That the current account is in surplus after four long years is welcome news, of course, but the government must also understand just why it has not quite been received with a sigh of relief by the people. No doubt everybody ought to be happy that the ruling party is really doing something about the bloated deficits, but, then again, there’s only so much happiness they can experience when inflation has got to the point that even prices of essential food items are out of reach of most Pakistanis. Let us not forget that a large majority of the 200 million or so people that live in the country are poor, belonging to the lower-middle and lower income groups. And for them the current economic situation is not something they can bear by simply cutting expenses here and there. For most of them, it is a matter of life and death. With most people experiencing job losses, or at least lower salaries, since the PTI government took over, and not much chances of finding employment anytime soon, the matter of constantly rising prices – rents, bills, fees, food – is naturally the number one concern. They hoped the SBP governor’s prediction from last quarter, that prices would begin falling soon enough, would prove true. Alas, things seem heading in a rather different direction. That is way indicators and trends mentioned by the PM’s special advisor on finance and SBP governor all the time mean very little to most people. What they do understand, though, is that whatever those in charge said would change things quite simply hasn’t. And while the rest of us celebrate the progress on the current account front, and quite rightly so, there is that nagging concern that the road back into green has been driven almost only by blocking imports. That in itself is not a bad thing, but tends to run into some trouble when not accompanied by a rise in exports. And our exports haven’t really budged much at all. That is why it is already abundantly clear that all traditional avenues of stimulating exports have failed, particularly debasing the local currency to make end products more attractive to foreign buyers. The problem is incorporating value addition in the export mix, which is a rather long term strategy. Yet it must still start somewhere. Once initiated, it triggers a long cycle of economic linkages, from vocational training, to increased manufacturing, to financing and lastly to more vibrant commerce. Once that process starts, you can take the foot off the imports a little as well; just enough to allow crucial input parts for the large scale manufacturing sector at least. So let us feel happy about the current account, by all means, but let us also not take our eyes off the real, bigger goal. *