REVOLUTION AND RESPONSIBILTY

The release of the annual report of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was accompanied by the usual fanfare, including a very deliberate assertion absolving the Pervez Musharraf regime of any responsibility for the dramatic increase in poverty in recent years that the report begrudgingly acknowledges to be the conspicuous feature of the present economy. This admission follows long after the report congratulates the Musharraf economic team for improving macroeconomic performance significantly. It is pointed out that this improvement will provide the basis for a genuine effort to address the huge poverty problem.

The Musharraf tenure, like most periods of rule that have preceded it, has been characterised by a healthy rhetoric about the "revolutionary" changes that are being wrought by the government. The popularly propagated notions about economic recovery stand out in this regard. Despite the acute increase in poverty that has taken place since October 1999, the government has continued to insist that the economy is back on track and that it is a matter of time before the benefits of macroeconomic recovery trickle down to the wretched masses. That there is no evidence to suggest that the long-awaited trickle-down effect will materialise is another matter altogether. In any case, "revolutionary" changes in the economic sphere are just the tip of the iceberg. The consistent feature of all of the "revolutionary" changes that have been brought about, in the economic sphere or otherwise, is in their total and utter commitment to the status quo.