Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently celebrated the one -year performance score card of his government as a testimony of his success in “directing the country out of multiple crises.” He spoke brilliantly about the macroeconomic stabilization achieved so far, which has been possible with the help of a rescue package of the IMF, the assistance of friendly countries and strong adjustments in the domestic market that, although they have inflicted insufficient pain in common citizens, have also helped the inflation of the junction.
The exuberance of Mr. Sharif can be excused: the current government faced extremely discouraging challenges from the first moment, and deserves to slapped on the back. It is true that a harder evaluation than the country has won and lost during the past year can produce more sobering reflections, but in terms of political statements, this, at least, was not completely full of hot air. However, it is expected that it has not caused Islamabad to lose sight of its biggest goals.
As a recently published opinion on these pages warned, what comes next should be to the PM insomnia nights. The macroeconomic stability that has been exalting will begin to seem meaningless as the pressures are built to show economic growth. Common people have seen their purchasing power decimated in the last three years, and now that prices seem stabilized, they will soon begin to wait for a return to their old standards of life.
Once that pressure is strengthened, the survival of this Government will depend largely on the management of public expectations and the provision of a path to prosperity that can avoid the difficulties of past models to design growth. This, in no way, will be an easy task, especially if one takes into account the expected seismic changes in international finances as the priorities of the United States become more and more inward, as well as socio -political instability exceeds at home.
In the latter, it should be taken into account that when the government has achieved success in achieving macroeconomic stability, it has not been able to improve social conditions or address political instability. The model that has chosen to respond to several existential challenges, the use of manifest and excessive power, will be counterproductive once it begins to need public support during the critical transition of growth stability.
It is well understood that the economy cannot improve until public feeling improves, and public feeling cannot improve if the State continues to act against public wishes. This, of course, is a completely self -inflicted limitation and one that now requires some difficult measures to eliminate. However, there are no other options to take the rocky path. Socio -political stabilization should now be the main priority of the government. Otherwise, the fruits of their work will not reach the masses, and the immense political price that it has paid for stability will not have been for anything.
Posted in Dawn, March 6, 2025
