But wait a minute Mr Prime Minister, what about me?

The Prime Minister last week announced that owing to some smart economic management by his government, Pakistan’s economy is now doing better and the country is finally on its road to economic recovery. The rationale behind this assessment of course was the traditional indicators governments around the world invariably use, albeit selectively to suit their version, for measuring economic performance - reserves, trends in the national stock markets, fiscal prudence, inflation index, balance of trade and last but not least global confidence vis-a-vis the country’s economy.
His economic team of course rightly feeding him that: a) Our reserves are once again back to the $15 billion mark and holding steady; b) Stock market index now at +9000 points with potential to go up even further if the recent foreign interest and investment in our markets can be sustained; c) Despite an increase in external borrowing the liquidity itself has not been squandered and remains in the governmental kitty by reflecting well in reserves; d) Inflation finally tamed to the single digit level; e) Current account deficit down to a heartening level with a distinct possibility of achieving the unthinkable - a surplus; and f) The international financial institutions, donors and the developed economies, which not too long ago had left Pakistan to economic isolation, successfully wooed back and all of a sudden eager to meaningfully engage like never before.
No mean achievements by any stretch of imagination and that also in less than 18 months, in possibly the worst imaginable economic environment, during a period when the world suffers from a recession that is arguably more serious than the one in the 30s and in a country that is literally at war - any prime minister would be proud!
However, talk to an average guy in the street and his simplistic response to all this economic figurative mumbo jumbo typically turns out to be, “But wait a minute Mr Prime Minister, what about me? I am a graduate but there are no jobs in the market; I am a worker but I have been rendered unemployed on account of government’s mismanagement over energy and power; I am employed but in absence of any tangible state support, am in turn unable to decently support and raise my family; I am an entrepreneur but instead of innovating am looking to exit, because rather than being facilitated am hounded and coerced by the state machinery; I am an investor but unprecedented increase in the cost of doing business due to successive government policy adventures has led me to the point of bankruptcy; I am a housewife but spend most of my quality time on streets collecting food essentials; I am a student but my institution is closed; Last but not the least, I worry not because I am poor but because I am fast losing hope in my future” - To sum it up, “unhappiness” in our beloved country is growing! Whereas, the well targeted and carefully crunched numbers of the foreign donor driven economic agenda for Pakistan may well be falling in to place, this is coming at the cost of the common man as it enhances his burden and more dangerously at the risk of stirring social unrest in a country already brimming with volatility.