The narrative that the economy has stabilized and is now embarked on the road to growth is not finding traction with the general public.

The reason: the failure of the stakeholders to take account of the disconcerting ground realities as incomes continue to contract (private sector wages have remained constant for the past four to five years while prices continue to rise), coupled with ongoing closure of industrial units (multinational and local) due to rising input costs, thereby fuelling unemployment.

The Cabinet members claim successes through the mainstream media, which is no longer the sole source of information for the general public – not in Pakistan, and not globally.

Be that as it may, frequent claims in parliament/press briefings/conferences led by federal ministers, including the economic team leaders, continue as has long been the practice where questions are managed through supporters within the media with rather rare instances of a reporter raising a concern out of turn. Their target audience is clearly powerful stakeholders and a relatively small group of independent analysts and not the general public, especially as discussants use terminology that the majority of Pakistanis cannot relate to.

Three recent statements by the Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb merit consideration.

Aurangzeb stated on the floor of the House that the government had approached the IMF to undertake the Corruption and Governance Diagnostic (CGD) – cited as a prior condition for the IMF approval of the disbursement of the second tranche release of the USD 7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first tranche release of the USD 1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF).

He is technically correct; however, it is fairly obvious that the Fund post-2019 (with the exception of the Covid years) has been increasingly rigid in adapting programme design to the government’s political sensitivities.

The reason is noted in the 10 October 2024 EFF approval documents:........

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