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Pakistans economy grew as strong as Indias in 2002 to 2006: Indian magazine
Posted on March 11, 2008 by Mazaqah
Pakistans economy grew as strong as Indias in 2002 to 2006: Indian magazine
ISLAMABAD, Mar 11 (APP): Pakistans economy may currently be in difficulties with fast rising inflation and the shortage of gas, electricity and flour, but between 2002 and 2006, it grew almost as strong as of India, a leading Indian magazine said.
Pakistan in many ways is better than India in terms of transport infrastructure and communication means, Indias investigative magazine Tehelka reported.
In the report, William Dalrymple, an expert on South Asia who travelled through Pakistan said, Driving last week along the dual carriageways of Sindh, a week after bumping through rural Rajasthan, there was no comparison between the roads on either side of the border.
Pakistan still has the best airports, motorway and road network in the region, he said.
The writer says many incidents in 2007 including lawyers protest, Red Mosque episode, series of suicide bombings and proclamation of emergency led many to predict that Pakistan was looking more like a failed state stumbling towards full scale civil war and, possibly, even disintegration.
However, the country I saw last week on a long road trip from Lahore down through rural Sindh to Karachi was very far from a failed state
Instead, as you travel around Pakistan today you can see the effects of recent economic boom everywhere, the writer said.
Dalrymple said Pakistan could not be termed as the most dangerous country in the world as being propagated by many. Instead the country is enjoying a construction and consumer boom, with growth approaching 8 percent the fastest-rising stock market in Asia.
As part of economic growth, the writer mentioned new shopping malls and restaurant complexes, the hoardings showing latest laptops and ipods, the cranes at buildings sites, the smart roadside filling stations and the smokestacks of factories, the new 4x4s jamming the roads and also the endless stores selling mobile phones.
The article says the country in 2003 had fewer than three million cell-phone users with rising to almost 50 million by today. The car ownership has been increasing at roughly 40 percent per year since 2001. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has risen from $322 million in 2002 to $3.5 billion in 2006.
Dalrymple said while going to Larkana, he was asked to beware of dacoits along certain roads ambushing people after dark.
But by and large, the countryside I passed through was calm and beautiful, and not obviously less prosperous-looking than rural India.
The cities of Pakistan, in particular, are fast changing beyond recognition in the fashion scene. Also remarkable things are happening in the world of books with a fine crop of major non-fiction writers such as Ahmed Rashid, Zahid Hussain and Ayesha Siddiqa at the front of the pack there has been an amazing renaissance in English-language fiction, with fine writers like Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Moni Mohsin, Ali Sethi and especially this years Booker short-listee, Mohsin Hamid, all for the first time giving their Indian counterparts a run for their money.
Dalrymple also mentions the incredible new world of media that had sprung up, a world of music videos, fashion programs, independent news networks, cross-dressing talk-show hosts, religious debates, and stock-market analysis.
He gives credit to the Musharraf government for the rise of media sector, which resulted in the flourishing of television, radio stations and newspapers over the past few years.
Little of this has been reported in the Indian press, and Indians generally seem remarkably ill-informed about the changes which have been quietly but profoundly changing Pakistani society beneath the media image of military stagnation and jehadi horrorism.
Pakistan's Economy To Grow 4.2% In 2002.
PAKISTAN'S ECONOMY TO GROW 4.2% IN 2002.
KARACHI -(Dow Jones)-Pakistan's economy is expected to grow a stronger 4.2% this year due to lower interest rates and a stronger currency at home, an improving global economy and better regional security, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
Last year, Pakistan's economy grew just 3.4%, as it suffered from a war in neighboring Afghanistan, tensions with India and a loss in farm output, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook.
The rupee has gained on aid inflows and rising remittances after Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war against terror in September.
"These trends in the context of firmer global activity and improvements in the regional security situation should support stronger growth in the period ahead," the IMF said.
The IMF expects Pakistan's economy to grow 5.1% in 2003 - close to its average growth rate in the 1980s. The country's economic growth slowed to around 4% in the 1990s.
Inflation is expected to remain tame at 3.7% this year, down from 3.8% last year. The current account deficit will slip to 1% of gross domestic product, compared with 1.2% of GDP last year, the IMF said.
Earlier this month, the IMF approved a $108 million loan disbursement - the second from a $1.3 billion loan program approved in December.
The IMF cautioned that Pakistan will have to continue with economic reforms and fiscal restructuring - including expanding a tax base that currently has just 1.4% of its 140 million population registered as tax payers - to sustain a positive outlook for the economy. The government also needs to boost its revenues, and remove subsidies on sectors such as fertilizer and agriculture, the IMF has previously said.
Revenue collection has been the Achilles' Heel of Pakistan's government in the last decade, including the current one headed by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in October 1999.
Latest data from the Central Board of Revenue show Pakistan is likely to struggle to achieve a revised tax revenue target of 414 billion rupees ($1=PKR60.14) in the fiscal year ending June 30.
Tax collection fell 2.8% to PKR269 billion in the nine months to March, compared with PKR277 billion in the year-ago period due to lower imports and slow economic activity.
Pakistan will have to collect another PKR145 billion in the next three months to achieve its full-year target, which analysts say is unlikely to happen.
The IMF noted that the country has made progress in the privatization of state-run companies and financial sector reforms.
Pakistan's government plans to sell major stakes in state-owned companies in banking, oil and gas, and telecommunication concerns to strategic buyers by year-end.
The IMF takes into account the calendar year, while Pakistan calculates economic indicators based on a fiscal year that runs from June to July.
2000 2001 2002 2003
Real GDP 3.9 3.4 4.2 5.1
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...4pnNCA&usg=AFQjCNFZtj7-FvFDLBY8-dqlRTST5f6a9A
Consumer Prices 4.4 3.8 3.7 4.0
Current Account Balance
as a percentage of GDP -1.9 -1.2 -1.0 -1.4
-By Saeed Azhar, Dow Jones Newswires; 92-21-5872886;
saeed.azhar@dowjones.com.
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