Failure to plan is planning to fail

The government is obsessed with containing the fiscal deficit and rightly so. However, it is deferring critical reforms as a consequence. This preoccupation with fiscal stabilisation has caught the policymakers in a rut, and no one has talked about economic growth, human development and jobs creation.
In this background, the New Growth Framework (NGF) proposed by the Planning Commission (PC) and approved by the NEC assumes even greater importance.
It is good to see that this framework puts growth and reforms front and centre of the agenda. Briefly, the NGF focuses on endogenous growth - growth from within, and not entirely led by transient foreign investments. It focuses on quality governance through meaningful civil services reforms and reforms at bleeding PSEs.
It emphasizes on domestic markets to be competitive and vibrant for businesses. It strives to convert cities into engines of growth through efficient urban management. Engaging communities & youth is a focal concept of the framework. The strategy links human capital, productivity and innovation to foster entrepreneurship, create competition and hence growth.
The scope of reforms proposed in the NGF is vast and it has been a roller-coaster ride for the PC till its approval. After all, the NGF is talking about reducing the role of government and its PSEs whose footprint, according to some estimates, is over 50 percent of the economy. The government is everywhere from agriculture, commodities procurement, transportation and energy to other large sectors, essentially crowding out private sector.
The recently held two-day conference on Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan by the PC in collaboration with UNDP was a step in the right direction. Among the attendees were representatives from various government departments, eminent economists and policymakers, technocrats, donor agencies, private sector and prominent civil society figures.
The NGF has been successful in creating enthusiasm in thinking minds. However, business reforms would not be successful unless they favor the new entrants too, rather than protecting and subsidizing the incumbents. Restructuring the PSEs, which act as convenient political tool, would be going after the master vein of the status quo.
Cities would not generate desired economic activities unless local governments are put in place. What eighteenth amendment has done is that it has concentrated devolved services to the provinces that may not be willing to devolve it further to the lower tier. Return of Karachi to the commisionerate system, without sufficient policy debate and with a mere stroke of a pen, should be an eye-opener.
The public sector development programme (PSDP) is a clear example of mismanagement at various line ministries, PSEs and other government divisions. Over Rs3 trillion worth of projects - largely brick and mortar - are in limbo and need more funds and time for completion. This is in sharp contrast to Indonesia, where government involvement is only 20 percent in around 6,000 development projects, rest is private sector.
The status-quo, however, has been challenged and right questions are being asked. Finally, someone is mentioning growth and productivity at the policy-level and Dr. Nadeem Ul Haq and his energetic team deserves credit for that. There is tremendous support from donor agencies too.
But the way forward will be hard. More than anything, implementation of the reforms will be the key. The reforms agenda is ambitious indeed. It will be resisted, maligned and become a pariah for those very organizations and stakeholders who want to cling on to the current rewarding system. It will also be costlier to implement.
Rather than trying to initiate wholesale reforms, a selective approach would be a better one, which should attempt to create a snow-ball effect and spread out at a later stage.