As IMF shifts towards inclusive growth, is Pakistan ready? | The Express Tribune
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s decades-old policies that give preferential access to state resources to a select few sectors and ensure strong government footprints have placed it among nations that have the lowest inclusive growth and low access to education and healthcare, endangering the unparalleled demographic dividends. A book of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “Promoting Inclusive Growth in the Middle East and North Africa: Challenges and Opportunities in a Post-Pandemic World”, outlines the prevailing poor economic conditions in a part of the world to which Pakistan also belongs. The countries that have the lowest inclusive growth scores are Yemen, Mauritania and Pakistan. They lag behind other countries in the private sector and financial inclusion the most. In terms of access to education, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, and Pakistan rank below average for the rest of the world. Within the region, Mauritania, Pakistan and Yemen are the ones that most se