It seems, for some reason, that Imran Khan’s PTI government is getting increasingly lucky of late at least as far as the economy is concerned. Not only was it able to survive the worst of the pandemic when everything was locked down and growth just plummeted into negative territory, but since then it has been celebrating everything from higher-than-expected tax earnings, to record export earnings and remittances. And now, as if a miracle had suddenly descended from the sky, the current account deficit (CAD) posted a surplus of $424 million for the month of July. Let’s not forget that CAD was about $100 million in June 2020, $613 million in July last year and, as Planning Minister sad Umar pointed out, it was hovering somewhere around $2 billion when the PML-N government was voted out. There are few things more harmful for an economy, and therefore a country, than a runaway current account deficit. It is precisely what forces a resort to the begging bowl, which can quickly become a habit, and indeed compromises a sovereign country’s integrity in the international marketplace. The deficit has been tamed, we are told, due to record inflows from exports and remittances. This is precisely why countries that focus on export value addition do so much better than those that don’t. There is, however, some concern on part of some experts that while a positive current account is to be celebrated the greatest care needs to be taken to preserve this trend. That is because the surge in remittances could be a one-time thing, since Pakistani expatriates have been facing the axe all over the world and there’s only so long they can keep sending as much money back as they used to, let alone more. And it could well be that exports have done so nicely for a few months because of the success of the policy of imposing smart lockdowns and reopening the economy early, because the country was able to find new markets as traditional suppliers were hamstrung. And without value-addition in the export basket Pakistan might not be able to maintain this edge for long as eventually all countries will reopen and at least some will reclaim their lost pieces of the pie. That is why while the government has every right to be happy with its performance, it must now position itself to take advantage of all that it has achieved so far. And, hard though the task is, it must become the sitting government of Pakistan that finally went ahead with instituting long-term value addition in exports, even though lots have talked about it. *