Emergencies - Dr Farrukh Saleem
Emergencies
Power emergency: Pakistan is the only unfortunate country in the world that has all the installed capacity required to meet its entire demand but we have invented euphemisms like circular debt and loadshedding when the real problem is gross politicised corruption. Imagine: for those critical hours when we did not have a PM the political appointments still being made were that of CEOs of electricity distribution companies.
Financial emergency: The State Bank of Pakistans foreign currency reserves are falling as bricks fall through clear water. The SBP is losing some $10 million dollars a day every day of the year. In the following 12 months, our current account deficit is projected to be $5 billion and debt repayments amount to an additional $5 billion. We must raise $10 billion in foreign loans or the SBP goes belly up.
Nutrition emergency: Forty percent of all Pakistani children are now underweight. Imagine: 6 out of 10 children are affected by stunting (reduced growth rate resulting from malnutrition in early childhood and/or during foetal development brought on by a malnourished mother). Imagine: one out of 10 children are affected by wasting (debilitating disease causing muscle and fat waste as a consequence of acute malnutrition).
For the first time ever, four out of 10 Pakistanis are managing to survive below the poverty line. Remember, on March 25, 2008, the day Yousuf Raza Gilani took oath of the prime ministerial office, there were 47.1 million Pakistanis living in extreme poverty. Over the past four years, an average of 20,000 Pakistanis per day every single day of the past four years have dropped below poverty. The total number now stands at around 80 million.
Education emergency: More than six million Pakistani children are out of primary school and that is the highest of any country in the world; Sudan has 2.6 million, Mali 1 million, Burundi 500,000, Zimbabwe 400,000 and Rwanda 400,000. Pakistan spends 1.7 percent of the GDP on education, Zambia 2 percent, Rwanda 2.8 percent, and Sierra Leone 3.7 percent.
Economic emergency: For the first time in recent memory our private sector has stopped growing. For the first time ever every Pakistani man, woman and child is indebted to the tune of Rs70,000. For the first time ever the government of Pakistan (GoP) is printing an additional Rs300 crore a day every single day of the year; the GoP would print more only if there was enough electricity.
Foreign investment emergency: For the first time ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has taken such a big nosedive over a short period of time. Imagine: from $8,400 million in 2007 to under $700 million in 2012. American Express has run away. HSBC is running away. Citibank has sold off its various business units. The Pakistani rupee is in a free fall and no one is worried; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army. More than 80 million Pakistanis do not know where their next meal would come from and no one is doing anything about it; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army. On the face of the whole planet Pakistan has the largest number of children out of primary school and no one is doing anything about it; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army.
Imagine: in the latest Failed State Index, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Burma are now better off than Pakistan. What is the PPP doing? What is the PML-N doing? Where is the Pakistan Army?
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Emergencies
Power emergency: Pakistan is the only unfortunate country in the world that has all the installed capacity required to meet its entire demand but we have invented euphemisms like circular debt and loadshedding when the real problem is gross politicised corruption. Imagine: for those critical hours when we did not have a PM the political appointments still being made were that of CEOs of electricity distribution companies.
Financial emergency: The State Bank of Pakistans foreign currency reserves are falling as bricks fall through clear water. The SBP is losing some $10 million dollars a day every day of the year. In the following 12 months, our current account deficit is projected to be $5 billion and debt repayments amount to an additional $5 billion. We must raise $10 billion in foreign loans or the SBP goes belly up.
Nutrition emergency: Forty percent of all Pakistani children are now underweight. Imagine: 6 out of 10 children are affected by stunting (reduced growth rate resulting from malnutrition in early childhood and/or during foetal development brought on by a malnourished mother). Imagine: one out of 10 children are affected by wasting (debilitating disease causing muscle and fat waste as a consequence of acute malnutrition).
For the first time ever, four out of 10 Pakistanis are managing to survive below the poverty line. Remember, on March 25, 2008, the day Yousuf Raza Gilani took oath of the prime ministerial office, there were 47.1 million Pakistanis living in extreme poverty. Over the past four years, an average of 20,000 Pakistanis per day every single day of the past four years have dropped below poverty. The total number now stands at around 80 million.
Education emergency: More than six million Pakistani children are out of primary school and that is the highest of any country in the world; Sudan has 2.6 million, Mali 1 million, Burundi 500,000, Zimbabwe 400,000 and Rwanda 400,000. Pakistan spends 1.7 percent of the GDP on education, Zambia 2 percent, Rwanda 2.8 percent, and Sierra Leone 3.7 percent.
Economic emergency: For the first time in recent memory our private sector has stopped growing. For the first time ever every Pakistani man, woman and child is indebted to the tune of Rs70,000. For the first time ever the government of Pakistan (GoP) is printing an additional Rs300 crore a day every single day of the year; the GoP would print more only if there was enough electricity.
Foreign investment emergency: For the first time ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has taken such a big nosedive over a short period of time. Imagine: from $8,400 million in 2007 to under $700 million in 2012. American Express has run away. HSBC is running away. Citibank has sold off its various business units. The Pakistani rupee is in a free fall and no one is worried; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army. More than 80 million Pakistanis do not know where their next meal would come from and no one is doing anything about it; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army. On the face of the whole planet Pakistan has the largest number of children out of primary school and no one is doing anything about it; not the PPP, not the PML-N, not the Pakistan Army.
Imagine: in the latest Failed State Index, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Burma are now better off than Pakistan. What is the PPP doing? What is the PML-N doing? Where is the Pakistan Army?
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
