Misplaced priorities

This refers to the article, ‘Tougher times ahead’ (May 29) by Dr Farrukh Saleem. The writer has mentioned some important points regarding the country’s economic situation. However, I do not agree with his view that “the only silver lining is that, historically, under the PML-N government the rate of economic growth rises. Resultantly, per capita income increases and the increase in per capita income adds to our capacity to bear tough times”.

During the previous PML-N government, the focus remained on short-term projects that do not create wealth or provide sustainable employment to the people. The agriculture and manufacturing sectors are the real engines of sustainable and quality growth, job creation, dollar earnings/savings and assimilation of technology, but they were ignored. There was no focus on building dams for storing water and generating cheap power. Manufacturing was given the least priority, and there was a sort of ‘deindustrialization’ in the country while trading was promoted. The country slowly turned into a loan-funded import-based trading nation.

Arif Majeed

Karachi