THE most challenging year in recent memory has closed with some indicators prognosticating a nascent economic rejuvenation of sorts. So, what lies in store in 2024? Are the gloomy days now behind us that a possible rising tide from improved growth prospects will lift all boats?
The public at large cannot be expected to go into a trance on being informed that we have achieved both a primary and current account surplus. For them the fallout of back-breaking inflation and stringent austerity under the IMF programme has been a stifling of growth and economic opportunities. And that these factors combined with supply chain disruptions caused by administrative restrictions of imports have amplified the market manipulative powers of a minority class, eroding the purchasing power of large segments of the population.
For them, unemployment rates and poverty levels are rising. And, although growing, these rates would have been higher but for the annual remittances of $30 billion and the informal sector which have kept the wheels of the economy somewhat running. However, many in the lower-middle income group hovering around the poverty line, if unable to take on multiple jobs, have been pushed below it, while significant proportions of the middle-income group have been coping by adjusting their lifestyles or by running down available savings or by liquidating assets. A disturbing development is the loss of morale of the limited available quantity of the skilled. They are articulating their loss of faith in the future of the country by........