PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s declaration on New Year’s Eve that the government would exit crisis mode — “with macroeconomic indicators stabilised” — and shift towards growth is more a political statement than an economic message. His remarks, in fact, betrayed the ruling party’s anxiety over the criticism that the government lacked a programme to move the economy from stabilisation to growth. The broad reform agenda rolled out by the PM comprises 142 actions — 59 priority reforms and 83 complementary measures — to be implemented by 58 institutions within defined timelines. The key areas where actions are to be implemented include taxation, energy, privatisation, SOEs, pensions, tariff rationalisation, regulatory simplification, rightsizing of the........

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