Pakistan government’s spokespersons (both official and unofficial) have been trying hard to build a narrative that the country’s economy is improving, yet that narrative is finding little traction on the ground where lived reality matters more.
The current account has come into surplus, they tell the country. Exports are rising and remittances are showing record increases month after month. Growth is returning, as evidenced in indicators like the quantum index of large-scale manufacturing, cement and automobile sales and rising profitability of listed corporates. Why are people in the country not getting it?
The answer is simple: these things have little to do with most people. The poor do not toil to plug deficits. They toil to feed their families. These indicators refer to an economy that most people are not familiar with, and frankly speaking, do not care much about. They describe developments in what textbooks call the macroeconomy that matters more to the…