Agriculture Sector Deterioration Demoralize Farmer Confidence
LAHORE: In the last four months, Pakistan’s current account was in surplus, which is an optimistic development. However, it consistently keeps amazing the economists and business groups.
According to the State Bank, the current account surplus for the first four months of this economic year was $ 382 million. The main factors after the surplus were a decrease in imports and a higher in-flow of remittances from employees.
However, currently, Pakistan is facing a severe upsurge of unemployment and minimal business activity, with the exception of exports, without substantial development of small-scale or large-scale industrial enterprises.
Former chairman of the National Cotton Ginners Association, Shahzad Khan, told that statements by various government officials and PM Imran Khan about economic recovery are true. Khan also said that:
The current-account surplus is a good update but unfortunately achieved by limiting the imports. The major impacting account surplus would be that which could be achieved by boosting exports.
“On the positive side, Pakistan has succeeded to maintain exports when competitors’ exports are declining due to Covid19.”
However, Khan expressed fears that agricultural deterioration could undermine all the optimism and demotivate the farmers. “We claim that agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, however, we are losing ground because of the deterioration of the national agriculture sector”, he said.
Khan complained that other key Pakistani produces such as wheat, corn, and sugarcane were also worse off. Rapid reforms in the agricultural sector are a need of the hour, he said, as low imports could affect this as well as other sectors.
Dr. Qais Aslam, the renowned Economist, said the Pakistani economy is in decline. He told in a press meeting that the current account surplus cannot be said to reflect the economic recovery when numerous of the key factors are still negative.
“Economic situation of Pakistan is at its lowest and will recover slightly in coming days,” he said. “We need to keep an eye on the World Bank’s forecast, which predicts economic growth of just 0.5% for the current economic year.”
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