By Sardar Khan Niazi
The first and foremost aim of any economic policy has to be to target and eliminate poverty. Both sides of the political divide can blame each other for the mess but to an outsider, both are culpable as they were short of imagination and ideas when there was space to make decisions of far-reaching import.
The coalition government faces mountainous issues: spiraling inflation, massive devaluation of the Pakistani rupee against major world currencies, increasing fuel prices, the drying-up of foreign currency reserves, and corruption. Surrounding all of these challenges is the fear of a debt default.
The government bodies are responsible for spreading corruption in Pakistan because these bodies control and allocate the public resources of the country. Pakistan is a country with weak institutions which is the biggest alone cause of corruption.
Other reasons for corruption are; the insufficient political will to eradicate corruption from society, bureaucracy being the principal authority for the administration of institutes, salaries in the public sector being very low as compared to the other sectors of the economy, and a higher rate of inflation.
The economy of Pakistan experienced a very sluggish rate of economic growth and a high level of volatility in its growth rate for the last many years. Moreover, Pakistan failed to achieve the set target for growth rate. The economic growth rate in these eight years remained average.
There is a variety of reasons for this poor economic performance; increasing corruption is the dominating determinant that affected the economic growth in Pakistan.
Corruption is the result of institutional weaknesses, which discourages the economic growth of a country.
One moral standard or the other guides every nation, state, community, organization, or individual, which has evolved over time to achieve a particular goal of growth and development. It is therefore imperative to state here that adherence to moral values is a key indicator of achieving economic development in a nation.
Individual values and behaviors are the key factors that promote economic performance. Therefore, if moral values are promoted, the economy will also perform well since the economy cannot be separated from the people.
Economic development in a nation might just be a mere illusion if we attempt to achieve it independently of the people. The foundation of economic development in any nation begins with an effective and efficient moral and value system.
Economic backwardness is naturally due to a wide range of institutional, organizational, and government failures. In a country, where politicians are ineffective and corrupt, people’s welfare is ignored, and public policies are for the privileged class only, law enforcement is scarce, and immorality is widespread nothing goes right economically.
Economic and institutional backwardness is often a by-product of immorality, where despotic governments or powerful élites exploit the public. Just competence cannot assure the functioning of institutions; morality is necessary for better performance.
Political leaders and their economic advisors have to look beyond pure economic incentives and think about other factors motivating their behavior, and the most important among these factors is morality.
The conception of what is right or wrong, and of how one ought to behave in specific circumstances, exert a strong influence on behavioral aspects that directly affect economic outcomes.
Thus, morality, defined as individual values and convictions about the scope of application of norms of good conduct, is an important channel through which political and economic leaders can influence the functioning of institutions.
Whether our standard of living will improve, and how fast, remain a matter of acute concern for us. Economic growth means a rising standard of living for the clear majority of citizens. Commitment to fairness and dedication to democracy is the only way to achieve that goal.
