Atif R Mian highlights the most important issue facing Pakistan

KARACHI: Noted economist Atif R Mian, who has been included by Prime Minister Imran Khan, in the newly constituted Economic Advisory Council to assist the government in policy making has laid out most important issues facing national economy.

In a series of tweets before the July 25 elections in June, the financial expert listed the areas where the new government should focus on.

“As Pakistan heads to the polls, what is the most important issue facing the country? In my view, it is the persistent economic slide over the last forty years.”

“Consider this, in 1980 Pak income per capita was 40% to 60% higher than India, China or Bangladesh. But now Pakistan is the poorest in this group. The average Indian is now 60% richer and the average Chinese a whopping five times richer than their Pakistani counterpart.”

“In 1980 Pakistan's exports per capita were 2 to 3 times those of Bangladesh, India or China. Today, Pak's exports are the lowest by far. Indian and Bangladeshi exports have grown at a rate that is five times that of Pakistan, and China’s at a rate that is forty times faster!”

“This poor performance over decades has had a devastating impact on Pakistanis. Just last year an estimated 420,000 children under 5 died. At least 270,000 of these would have been alive if Pakistan had made as much improvement as Bangladesh since 1980.”

“The inability to grow like everyone else around us is literally killing our children. Yet no party is talking about it ... perhaps because they are all complicit. But this issue needs to be brought to the forefront.”