Thread by @nadeemhaque

Thread on Pakistan economic policy.
1. Our policy still remains the old mahbub ul Haq strategy:projects looking for aid and loans. We never think merely repeat past. This is at the heart of our repeated bop crisis.

2. All governments rush into vanity projects (eg metros, roads, Brock and mortar) because they follow the old Mahbub ul Haq model. Such projects are not well understood analyzed or planned. The result is more debt and increasing problems of poor planning. .

3. MOF has poor budget planning and implementation procedures. Their method is to give into vested interest and political power and do fiscal control by ill planned austerity in departments. They are unaware that “austerity” is globally considered to be bad policy.

4. Planning has not been done in pakistan for about 50 years since MOF took over the PC. MoF wants control over PC so it can cut PSDP when it likes and ensure that politically motivated vanity projects are not hindered. It wants no constraint places by any growth policy

5. This policy architecture has relegated growth as a policy objective to oblivion. No one cares for growth. It does not even enter our lexicon. Little research or thought in it.

6. PC has no expertise to make plans or growth policy. MoF does not consult PC on growth or projects. Growth is now a forgotten objective. Little research or thought in it.

7. We seem to be a country of status quo where instead of growth and development and opportunity, we think social protection is all that is required. So instead of growth abd development the focus of the government is only in charity.

8. The prevailing view is that there is no policy freedom because the IMF determines all policy. This is incorrect.

9. IMF program is a negotiated set of policies. It is incumbent on the government to develop a coherent set of policies for stabilization with development and negotiate.the IMF will listen if a coherent well researched proposal is made.

10. Because we are never invested in a program through our own vision and thought process, we end up not being able to implement it. It is no wonder we repeatedly have crises and go to the IMF

11. There is no substitute to having own policy making capacity and take charge of our own policy. And policy is comokex process requiring teamwork at many levels not merely fiscal policies and all power to one ministry.

Strangely we as a people show more interest in cricket and our cricket team than we take in our economic policy and how it is made and what the team is. End of thread.