Growth is projected at about 2.7 per cent this year, far below what a country of more than 240 million people needs. Meanwhile, according to an IMF governance analysis, leakage and capture of elite groups, and poor governance, pose an immediacy threat to growth, as they continue to undermine economic performance by 5 to 6.5 per cent of economic output annually. This difference lies between stagnation and growth. It also shows how much potential is being drained by a system that consistently favours a small network of the influential.

Elite capture is not an abstract term in Pakistan. It shapes everything from tax breaks to public spending to how state-owned enterprises are run. Such firms possess assets amounting to nearly half of Pakistan's GDP, although most of them operate in the red and require bailouts. The amount of losses incurred by the power sector is over a trillion rupees annually, which contributes........

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