In an interesting but a very important development Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a six-member committee to be headed by the finance minister for developing a “Home-grown Economic Development Plan”.
According to media reports, the premier while acknowledging valuable insights by Prof Stefan Dercon, former UK government adviser, has constituted the committee for drafting a home-grown economic development plan.
The committee will be working with the following TORs;(i) to coordinate with Professor Dercon to make a work plan for the next two weeks’ virtual discussions; (ii) to develop an economic development plan keeping in view indigenous strengths and challenges; (iii) invite Professor Dercon to Pakistan for a detailed explanatory discussion on the new draft plan with the prime minister in the second half of May 2024.
This development gives birth to an important question: are the members of the committee fully aware of the works of Prof Dercon or his approach to economic policymaking? According to Prof Dercon, for example, successful growth needs “a development bargain”—a commitment by a country’s elite.
In his book, Gambling on Development, Prof Dercon credits growth in countries including China and Rwanda not to enlightened leaders but to wealthy elites motivated to bring change.
In my view, however, insofar as Pakistan’s economy is concerned, it represents one of the best examples of elite capture that successfully ensures that public resources are biased for the benefit of a few individuals of superior social status, ignoring the larger population. Pakistan’s elite is not motivated to bring change; it always wants to maintain the status quo.
That prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Zardari themselves belong to country’s elite is a fact.
Unlike Bangladesh where political and economic elite has played a key role in higher economic growth and reduction in poverty levels, Pakistan’s elite is always concerned about its own welfare and interests before those of others, particularly the poor and marginalized segments of society.
Hammad Ujjan (Hyderabad)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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