EVERY economic slowdown in Pakistan revives the expectation within the business community that some incentives will quickly restore growth. This expectation is understandable, but it is misplaced. Pakistan’s growth challenge is not cyclical; it is structural. And structural weaknesses do not yield to quick fixes.

The growth record offers a sobering ben­ch­­mark. Over the past 15 years, Pakistan’s average real GDP growth has remained around 3.5-4 per cent — barely enough to absorb population and labour-force growth, let alone raise productivity or incomes. Cur­rent growth is therefore not an aberration caused solely by recent shocks. It reflects a long-standing failure to escape a low-growth equilibrium. For businesses, this means weak demand and recurring instability are not temporary disruptions; they are symptoms of a flawed economic model.

The IMF programmes are often seen as turning points for economic revival. In reality, their primary function is to stabilise the macroeconomic environment by restoring external balance, enforcing fiscal discipline, and anchoring inflation expectations. These measures are important for maintaining confidence but do not directly generate growth. Stabilisation measures prevent economic collapse, but they........

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