Economic crunch

This refers to the editorial ‘The economic outlook’ (January 2). The key indicators portray a grim picture of the economy. The revenue shortfall in the first half of the year is estimated at around Rs150 billion. Exports are not improving, despite a number of incentives given to exporters. The current expenditure is not registering any meaningful reduction, despite austerity talks. The announcement of a mini budget sometime this month underscores the failure of the government’s economic plan.Performances of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, contributing nearly 75 percent to GDP, remain unsatisfactory. The circular debt has increased to a whopping Rs1.4 trillion. Public-sector entities continue to bleed with no signs of restructuring in sight. So far, the country has survived the default from bailouts by friendly countries. But this will not continue for long. The government has to take bold and painful measures to tackle the economic crisis.Arif MajeedKarachi

from The News International - Newspost http://bit.ly/2QkGOLF