COVID-19 AND PAKISTAN’S ECONOMY CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD

Abstract

Pakistan’s economy is currently facing multi-dimensional economic challenges that include slower economic growth, rising unemployment and poverty; large fiscal deficit, growing public and external debt. These challenges are not the making of the last three years, but these have grown over the last thirteen years (2008-21). All the three previous governments sought balance of payments support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and implemented its four decades old policy prescription. The outcomes of the policy prescription included slower growth, rising unemployment and poverty, persistence of large fiscal deficit and the attendant rise in public and external debt. Various suggestion and recommendation have been made as to how to revive economic growth, reduce budget deficit, protect the hard-earned and costly improvement in external balance of payments and bring debt situation under control. It should be the resolve of the government to not to seek any more balance of payment support from the IMF. Pakistan must learn to live without the IMF Program.

Bibliography Entry

Khan, Dr. Ashfaque Hasan. 2021. " COVID-19 and Pakistan’s Economy: Challenges and Way Forward." Strategic Thought (3): 25-50.