From crisis to course correction |
PAKISTAN approaches 2026 not as a country burdened by failure, but as a nation standing at the threshold of possibility, a moment in which decades of deferred decisions, half-built reforms, and fleeting opportunities converge into a singular test of vision and will. Economic fragility, social divides, and institutional weaknesses are no longer distant abstractions; they now demand not mere survival, but a coherent, determined course forward, where the choices made in the coming months could determine whether Pakistan finally harnesses its human capital, strategic position, and abundant resources to move toward sustained growth and inclusive development, or whether the inertia of the past will continue to define the limits of its future.
Economically, Pakistan enters this period with low growth, crushing debt obligations, fragile exports, and a population steadily eroded by inflation, a combination that has made the promise of progress feel perpetually just out of reach. Over the past decade, growth has appeared in bursts, never settling into a durable or inclusive pattern, while realistic peers and competitors such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Egypt, and Vietnam have leveraged consistent policies, diversified exports, and strategic investments in human capital to accelerate development and expand opportunity. Pakistan’s export base remains narrow and low-value, dominated almost entirely by textiles, while these nations diversified deliberately: Vietnam moved into electronics and high-value manufacturing; Bangladesh expanded into garments,........