New Delhi, Dec 27 – The State Bank of Pakistan’s governor, Jameel Ahmad, warned that the country’s growth model is “unsustainable” for a population of 250 million, according to a report released this Saturday.
The comment comes at a time when Pakistan’s business cycles are shortening and each recovery is weaker than the last. The European Times said the warning highlights a wider pattern of crisis and fragile recovery.
“Pakistan may have been living on borrowed time. Now, its chief banker is saying the clock has all but run out,” the report added.
In the past decade, the country has cycled through rounds of “corrections” that have included steep tax hikes, high energy tariffs and deep cuts—suffering most heavily for ordinary citizens. Each pause in the economy leaves households and firms with less buffer, while underlying structural problems remain unaddressed.
The report characterises the slowdown as a structural decline that sits on top of decades of sluggish growth. Average GDP expansion has fallen from about 3.9 % over the past 30 years to just 3.4 % in the last five.
“It’s a model built on consumption spurts, cyclical borrowing and stop‑gap stabilisation,” the report noted, adding that this framework cannot meet the needs of 250 million people.
The European media outlet also described the recurring pattern: reserves deplete, inflation rises, the currency weakens and the International Monetary Fund is called in for another bail‑out. Subsequent stabilisation measures collapse growth, drive poverty higher, and once the crisis eases, the same cycle starts again.
Unemployment has climbed to a 21‑year high of 7.1 %, and World Bank data show poverty has surged to 44.7 % of the population.
—IANS
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