Cost of war on Terror for Pakistan "overestimated"

[seethru]

Pakistan has formally abandoned the claim of suffering immensely from the ongoing war on terror, saying that this in fact “hurt the economy, rather than bringing about any benefit.” And therefore a section carrying details of losses the country has suffered due to the war on terror has been dropped from the latest edition of the Economic Survey of Pakistan.

“For how long will we highlight the impact of the war on terrorism on the country,” argued finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh while justifying the decision to drop the special section, “Cost of War on Terror for Pakistan Economy”. The repeated emphasis has hurt investor sentiments, he added.


Investment in the country in 2011-12 fell to 12.5% of Gross Domestic Product, the lowest in the country’s history, while foreign direct investment stood at $666 million, almost half of what it was in corresponding period the preceding year.


Independent experts, however, say the biggest reason for falling investment is the chronic and worsening energy crisis that kept foreign investors at bay. Moreover, half of the country’s existing industrial capacity remains idle due to energy shortages, according to the survey.
Shaikh also shifted the responsibility on the Foreign Office, saying it calculates the losses and did not provide fresh details this year.


According to last year’s economic survey, Pakistan has suffered almost $68 billion in cumulative losses over the past decade due to the ongoing war on terrorism.
Finance ministry officials, however, said the $68 billion figure proved to be wrong during this year’s initial assessments.“We did not want to drastically revise this figure downward, as it might have raised the issue of the credibility of the country’s statistics”, official said.


The figures had been compiled by an inter-ministerial committee of the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, interior, commerce and representatives of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – the worst hit federating units.


The incumbent government had added the special chapter in the economic survey hoping it would help convince international players to pour more aid. Aid, however, was not forthcoming, primarily due to strained ties between Pakistan and the United States.

 

[seethru]

Cost of war: Chapter on war on terror losses jettisoned – The Express Tribune

 

[IndoUS]

Its not just war on terror, the government is too much corrupted, the energy sector has to do and can do much better if only the government took initiative. As far as the economy goes, you can't have a good economy if the companies and industries can't get electricity to run their factories. Its the government's fault that they have neglected the energy sector for so long.

 

[seethru]

Its not just war on terror, the government is too much corrupted, the energy sector has to do and can do much better if only the government took initiative. As far as the economy goes, you can't have a good economy if the companies and industries can't get electricity to run their factories. Its the government's fault that they have neglected the energy sector for so long.

The bigger point here is that they have been lying for about a year now starting with OBL raid. They claimed $100b initially and later revised it to $68b and they on their own are admitting that the figure $68 was too high("We did not want to drastically revise this figure downward, as it might have raised the issue of the credibility of the country’s statistics").
All this they did after realizing that this strategy of playing up the losses due to "war on Terrorism" isn't working.
This is pathetic by any standards.

 

[seethru]

This whole cost of war on Terror is BS and they made this up to feed the common man of Pakistan and rest of the world with false impression of WoT and to show themselves as victims of super power bullying just like the strategy they used shamelessly after Mumbai attacks. They were fine with WoT until OBL raid, after which they no longer could play the game and get the Military and Humanitarian aid and defense equipment.

After Mumbai Attacks "Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and non state actors are carrying out the Terrorist attacks"

After OBL raid and Kabul Attacks "Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and war on Terror (hurt economy) and non state actors provided Osama Bin Laden(Al qaeda) and Haqqani network the safe havens" Apart from Mullah Omar, Taliban leaders, Al zawahari .

Beyond the point of redemption i say.

 

[AHMED85]

If Pakistan escape from terrorism than i think we should not need the emergency or needy FDI.

Because county have sufficient sources and resources to sustain in development....

 

[Solomon2]

"Independent experts, however, say the biggest reason for falling investment is the chronic and worsening energy crisis that kept foreign investors at bay."

The problem isn't the "War on Terror" but the lack of a "War on Error" - bad and immoral governance, of which terrorism is only a part.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

The Pakistani economy is deteriorating for a variety of reasons. The energy crisis, the war on terror, & don't forget about corruption; they are without doubt major reasons for the horrid state of our economy. The high crime rate in certain cities is another issue to worry about. Political stability plays a role in the economic conditions of a country. Frankly, I don't think Pakistan is politically stable at the moment. I could post more reasons & even further elucidate them if required, but I doubt that's necessary.

The truth is that for Pakistan's economic conditions to improve there needs to be an overhaul in the country & in its government. My suggestion would be to prioritize the elimination of corruption & make it the first step to getting rid of the country's economic woes.

 

[illusion8]

A 60-70 billion loss did look exaggerated.

 

[Jango]

There isn't one particular or peculiar problem, but a multitude of them, and when they gang up, then it's trouble.

 

[INDIC]

Figure seems exaggerated. Only Pashtun dominated area is suffering militancy, how can such a huge figure possible.

 

[illusion8]

There isn't one particular or peculiar problem, but a multitude of them, and when they gang up, then it's trouble.

There is no clear reported set of figure's....is there?? or it's just a rough estimate...if so, it's based on what?

 

[JayAtl]

Whether it is War on Terror or Corruption or Energy crisis. It's all brought upon themselves because the governance cannot stand up to its military or ISI. Looking forward, no Imran Khan or anyone will be able to stand up to it. Military and ISI are too powerful and they won't shy away from killing their own leaders . moderates, journalist - anyone who wants to get rid of their stranglehold

The country is headed toward more religious zealotry vs. moderates mindset. I just don't see any light or forward movement for decades both economically and socially for Pakistan. Karachi which the hub of Pakistan so as to speak , a business hub where on one hand you see men's fashion, industries and tech start ups but on the other hand are seeing a flood of extremist flowing in and radicals taking over slowly. The moderates are all hiding behind the high walls of its 'posh' areas.

 

[The SC]

When your closest neighbour is at full war, you can not have a good economy, the fact of the proximity of the war zone alone scares off any potential investor.
Even a 100 billion in losses (over a decade) is credible due to the economic consequences of a decade long war in Afghanistan and its extension inside Pakistan called WoT.
Who exactly knows how Pakistan would have done economically if there were no WAR and no WoT, with an economy on high gear; with no energy crisis and a lot of foreign investments.
I am sure it would have done better than India witch made some money to buy weapons by profiteering from these conspirational circumstances.

 

[notsuperstitious]

We must not ridicule but encourage pakistans every step at more accountability.isn't that what the international community has been demanding?