Politicians the world over have horizons coinciding with their tenures. Only statespersons look towards the next generation. Political animals just seek to maximise their chances to get re-elected. Horizons become shorter if the next election is not in sight, as has often been the case in Pakistan.

The first ever peaceful handover of power by one elected government to another should have changed that. Looking at the economic decisions taken in the past 10 months or so, however, one tends to think that present continues to be the past and future is another country.

All of the country’s key deficits require long-term investment. Energy deficit, education deficit, and health deficit demand huge investments now to yield benefits well after five years. In the power sector, the only concrete piece of news is that Dasu project may, at long last, get a go-ahead. There is no serious effort to resolve the issues holding up the work on Diamer-Basha dam, without which the potential of Diamer will also remain underexploited.

Coal-fired power plants and the Gwadar power hub have not moved beyond the MOUs, signed before doing any work on the quality of coal, the enormity of the logistics challenge, environmental costs, and pricing policy. Political will to deal with the powerful oil import lobby is lacking. After wrenching out of the government half a trillion rupees in its very first month, the lobby is back with another hefty bill.

Gas to this government has been a matter of pipe dreams. The people can wait until the United States lifts sanctions so that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline can go through or Afghanistan becomes peaceful enough to let Turkeman gas to flow in. In the meantime, the import lobby is happy to establish terminals for LNG supply from Qatar. The lobby has also brought back the much-maligned rental power. The fact that Qatar Gas is a public state enterprise was lost on our privatisation evangelists negotiating the deal.

There are 5.5 million children out of school. This huge education deficit is not even on the agenda.A project to establish basic education community schools, costing Rs.4.3 billion has been approved to bring the out-of-school children to schools. The sum is a pittance against the numbers involved and an admission that the formal system will never be able to meet the deficit. Net primary enrolment ratio declined from 57 per cent in 2011-12 to 55 per cent in the following year. One has not heard of any major initiative to reduce the education deficit.

The health deficit has been neglected even more. Around 60 per cent of diseases are infectious or communicable diseases, reproductive complications and nutritional deficiencies. Dengue fever and drug addiction are in addition. Proportion of children 12-23 months who are not fully immunised is 18 per cent. Only 43 per cent of the population has access to clean drinking water.As much as 45 per cent of the births remain unattended by skilled staff. Annual per capita expenditure on health, both public and private, is 34.7  dollars. The corresponding figure of 60 dollars for Indonesia should give an idea of the extent of health deficit. Other than announcing politically visible schemes of cancer and kidney hospitals, the PML-N has nothing to show in the field of health.

Instead of focusing on addressing the deficits telling on the long-term sustainability of the economy the deficits of energy, education and health, the PML-N is championing the financials and the short- to medium-term. And this at a time when the world is learning from the international financial crisis to restructure the economies towards the real sectors!

There is no doubt that the PML-N inherited an economy that was a financial mess. But that has been the inheritance of nearly all governments in Pakistan. During the election campaign, the party claimed it understood what was wrong with the economy and insisted it had the team and the competence to deliver. In power, none of that is in evidence.

Nearly all of the major initiatives relate to financials. The government started by printed currency to dole out an amount to IPPs that would have been enough to set up a major power project. It went to the IMF, saying it was necessary to repay that organisation the debt contracted by the previous government. This argument was completely forgotten in the euphoria over entering the international financial market. Where will the next government go to service the much more expensive Eurobonds of two billion dollars?

As if this jump from the initially announced 500 million dollars was not enough, another 1.5 billion dollar was arranged in return for a promissory note that has not been made public. Pricing the dollar down by using tricks that defy economic logic falls in the same genre. It shows the panic of a government which could not manage an inherited current account deficit of around one per cent of GDP. True, the accumulation of a reasonable level of foreign exchange reserves is an IMF condition to be fulfilled, but the sustainable way to improve external balance is to generate more exports.

Action on exports, however, lies in the realm of real economy, something that a government enamoured by the financials has not touched in any serious manner. The GSP-plus was not entirely the doing of the present government. It did not think that a strong dollar would undermine the margin of preference here. In the first nine months, exports have increased, but only by 6 per cent. Imports exceeded imports by about 14 billion dollars.

The love of the financials extends to the fiscal side as well. Privatisation policy of the government is not about improving management, profitability, or productivity. It is about selling public assets to bolster receipts so as to reduce fiscal deficit. The Privatisation Commission is burning the midnight oil to offload 10, 5, and 20 per cent of the shares in OGDCL, PPL and UBL to net Rs.143 billion. With a view to realising the outstanding 850 million dollars from the PTCL, the transfer of properties demanded by it is about to be completed. Auctioning of 3G and 4G licenses is also a budgetary head of revenue.

Just as exports are the best way to pay for imports, taxes are the best means to pay for expenditure. All that one has seen in the name of tax reform is the rising number of exemptions and concessions to the friends and relatives in business through SROs and the rising burden of indirect taxes on the inflation-stricken population. Not a single step has been taken to expand the tax base. No wonder, the process of revising the budgeted tax target downwards has begun.

In ignoring the long view, the government cannot present the deteriorating security situation as an alibi. Many countries in conflict have demonstrated the will not just to have a vision but to implement it as well.