Musharraf's Coup Revived Pak Economy; Boosted Education, Human Development

[Jaanbaz]

Pakistan is not yet fully in the radicalized camp.

We are half way I think. Do you think there is any hope? From politicians or the military? or maybe both?

 

[VCheng]

We are half way I think. Do you think there is any hope? From politicians or the military? or maybe both?

Right now it is up in the air which way Pakistan will choose to go. So yes, there is some hope of reversal.

 

[Jaanbaz]

Right now it is up in the air which way Pakistan will choose to go. So yes, there is some hope of reversal.

Next General elections could decide where Pakistan might head towards I think.

 

[VCheng]

Next General elections could decide where Pakistan might head towards I think.

If they happen on time, then probably yes.

 

[Hyde]

All US reimbursements were received by Zardari, Musharraf only received head money of US most wanted.

Not only the head money but direct aid. It is a fact and I don't find the need to start what we have discussed half a million times before. Read this report if you have some time and also know the covert aid we hardly ever found it worthwhile to mention.

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Final_DP_2009_06_08092009.pdf

Even the 2005 earth quake collection of Pakistanis and Arab states was embezzled by Syed Yousaf Reza.

Not true, the aid started coming soon after the earthquake happened. The world needed Pakistan and the original plea of $5 billion dollars was overwhelmed and the pledges worth above $9 billion dollars were made as I don't remember the exact amount.

Later many pledges were not fulfilled but billions of dollars had already been disbursed (rumoured to have eaten up by the menace of corruption) between 2005 - 2008 before Musharraf resigned as President of Pakistan.

As foolish as Musharraf was, credit where it's due, he turned a 30 billion dollar economy to a 200 billion dollar one.

All I can say is, Musharraf did number of good things about economy of Pakistan but people give him undue credit for many things he did not do. I have seen people exaggerating the figure of Pakistan's economy in 1999 and 2007 very often but this figure of $30 billion dollars in 1999 and 200 billion dollars in 2007/08 is pretty new.

The last time I checked Pakistan's economy only reached around 200 billion dollars mark around 2013-14 so I wonder if Musharraf is still ruling? Also there were consistent attempts to curb down Pakistan's GDP in 1999 from around 76 billion dollars to 75, 70, 65 and the latest figure I had heard was 60 billion dollars. But you somehow managed to bring it down further to $30 billion dollars. I don't want to go in debate with all that, lets go with the credible source of IMF which suggests Pakistan's GDP of $76.86 billion dollars in 1999 and $152.460 billion dollars in 2007.

Report for Selected Countries and Subjects

 

[GreenGuy]

During the discussion i forgot to give the credit to the OP.

A really informative thread with facts and figures.
I liked reading it all.
Thumbs up for your efforts.


P.S i dont know how to give "Thanks" status to a post.

 

[Viper0011.]

It's a question of the amount and source of debt vs investment and savings.

India has much higher savings rate than Pakistan.

Most of India's public debt is domestic, not foreign.

India's mix of foreign inflows is mostly FDI, not loans.

That's the big difference between India and Pakistan.

During Musharraf years, most of Pakistan's foreign inflows came as FDI and export earnings, not debt.

Pakistan savings rate was also higher in Musharraf years.


To understand more, please read: Haq's Musings: Declining Investment Hurting Pakistan Economic Growth

1) I don't need to read articles for things that I can calculate in my sleep. I am not saying this with arrogance, I find it very strange that "analysts" without having strong background, history or future understanding of a topic, decide to "Write" stuff based on some research.

2) Allow me to address "Musharraff's time first. Which time? Till 2006 or later? Because after 2006 the US started to reduce the flow of insane amounts of dollars (over $ 10 billion NOT counting the coalition support funds). None of these $ 10 billion made it to the people of Pakistan or to pay the debt.

So when billions of dollars are free flowing and the the transportation network and travel industry in Pakistan was making billions through coalition support, OF COURSE you'll feel like there is "activity". But how come it died down so fast???? Because it was on someone else's money. If you'd like to, pay me $ 20 K a month, I'll buy a Ferarri on lase and will still save up from YOUR money. But ask of to do so on my own income, I may not be able to. This Musharraff's reference right here, tells me what mental set I am dealing with.

When you actually work in economy and strategy and finish a few large multi-national projects, come talk to me. There is no reason for me to waste my time on someone who thinks artificially donated money actually increased economic throughput of a country when no one wanted to talk about Pakistan, let alone invest into it!!!

4) India's debt is around 50% all different ways. Debt is debt, no need to add caveats like its internal or external. Their income is growing and they are spending the money on important things. That's what matters. As their tx base grows, they'll eventually pay off the debt too.

5) Pakistan's debt is around 24% or around there, plus minus a couple of percentages. That's not bad. As the economy related projects kick off, you'll see more revenue, investment and tax base getting increased, which means debt doesn't mean anything, as long as your economy is growing. A few years ago, the US hit nearly 100% debt to GDP ratio. And what happened? Now its way back to being in a normal range, still high. So the REAL issue is, create political stability, finish projects, bring in more investments and create more jobs, more tax base and better cash flow. Debt becomes meaningless.

You have $ 21 billion (little below 21 B) saved in your accounts right now. If this number keeps growing like this, in the next 5-7 years, if you REALLY wanted to, you can pay your debt as CASH!!!!

So I'd suggest let's not "analyze" something that you don't have expertise in, JUST to bash who you don't like ruling the country. And let's not praise people who've seriously damaged the country financially. Mushy had hundreds of millions of assets in the US and the UK under his son's name. Care to tell me how much a general make in Pakistan to have hundreds of millions of assets in the US?

 

[RiazHaq]

1) I don't need to read articles for things that I can calculate in my sleep. I am not saying this with arrogance, I find it very strange that "analysts" without having strong background, history or future understanding of a topic, decide to "Write" stuff based on some research.

2) Allow me to address "Musharraff's time first. Which time? Till 2006 or later? Because after 2006 the US started to reduce the flow of insane amounts of dollars (over $ 10 billion NOT counting the coalition support funds). None of these $ 10 billion made it to the people of Pakistan or to pay the debt.

So when billions of dollars are free flowing and the the transportation network and travel industry in Pakistan was making billions through coalition support, OF COURSE you'll feel like there is "activity". But how come it died down so fast???? Because it was on someone else's money. If you'd like to, pay me $ 20 K a month, I'll buy a Ferarri on lase and will still save up from YOUR money. But ask of to do so on my own income, I may not be able to. This Musharraff's reference right here, tells me what mental set I am dealing with.

When you actually work in economy and strategy and finish a few large multi-national projects, come talk to me. There is no reason for me to waste my time on someone who thinks artificially donated money actually increased economic throughput of a country when no one wanted to talk about Pakistan, let alone invest into it!!!

4) India's debt is around 50% all different ways. Debt is debt, no need to add caveats like its internal or external. Their income is growing and they are spending the money on important things. That's what matters. As their tx base grows, they'll eventually pay off the debt too.

5) Pakistan's debt is around 24% or around there, plus minus a couple of percentages. That's not bad. As the economy related projects kick off, you'll see more revenue, investment and tax base getting increased, which means debt doesn't mean anything, as long as your economy is growing. A few years ago, the US hit nearly 100% debt to GDP ratio. And what happened? Now its way back to being in a normal range, still high. So the REAL issue is, create political stability, finish projects, bring in more investments and create more jobs, more tax base and better cash flow. Debt becomes meaningless.

You have $ 21 billion (little below 21 B) saved in your accounts right now. If this number keeps growing like this, in the next 5-7 years, if you REALLY wanted to, you can pay your debt as CASH!!!!

So I'd suggest let's not "analyze" something that you don't have expertise in, JUST to bash who you don't like ruling the country. And let's not praise people who've seriously damaged the country financially. Mushy had hundreds of millions of assets in the US and the UK under his son's name. Care to tell me how much a general make in Pakistan to have hundreds of millions of assets in the US?

Most of the figures in your response are totally false leading to your garbage-in-garbage-out analysis.

Take debt-to-gdp ratio as just one example: India 51% and Pakistan 64%

The World Factbook

Musharraf had reduced Pakistan's debt-to-gdp to less than 50% on his watch. Here's what Pakistan PPP govt acknowledged in an MOU in Nov 2008 after Musharraf exited.

"Pakistan became one of the four fastest growing economies in the Asian region during 2000-07 with its growth averaging 7.0 per cent per year for most of this period. As a result of strong economic growth, Pakistan succeeded in reducing poverty by one-half, creating almost 13 million jobs, halving the country's debt burden, raising foreign exchange reserves to a comfortable position and propping the country's exchange rate, restoring investors' confidence and most importantly, taking Pakistan out of the IMF Program."

http://www.imf.org/External/NP/LOI/2008/pak/112008.pdf

Haq's Musings: A Brief History of Pakistani Economy 1947-2010

The aid figures are similarly wrong.

US aid to Pakistan, for example, tripled under Kerry-Lugar after Musharraf left.

Haq's Musings: Impact of Obama's Re-election on Pak-US Ties

Meager 4.1% GDP growth reported by Pakistan for 2013-14 caps sixth consecutive year of disappointing economic performance under "democratic" governments in the country. This slow growth brings back bitter memories of the last lost decade of 1990swhen economic growth plummeted to between 3% and 4%, poverty rose to 33%, inflation was in double digits and the foreign debt mounted to nearly the entire GDP of Pakistan as the governments of Benazir Bhutto (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif (PMLN) played musical chairs.


Pakistan GDP Growth Rates Since 1993. Source: World Bank



Economy in 1990s:

Before the current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Pakistan's two main political parties had presided over a decade of corruption and mismanagement. In 1999 Pakistan’s economy was the slowest in South Asia while its total public debt as percentage of GDP was the highest in the region– 99.3 percent of its GDP and 629 percent of its revenue receipts, compared to Sri Lanka (91.1% and 528.3% respectively in 1998) and India (47.2% and 384.9% respectively in 1998). Internal Debt of Pakistan in 1999 was 45.6 per cent of GDP and 289.1 per cent of its revenue receipts, as compared to Sri Lanka (45.7% and 264.8% respectively in 1998) and India (44.0% and 358.4% respectively in 1998).

Musharraf Era:

Under President Musharraf's leadership, Pakistan became one of the four fastest growing economies in the Asian region during 2000-07 with its growth averaging over 6 per cent per year for most of this period. As a result of strong economic growth, Pakistan succeeded in reducing poverty by one-half, creating almost 13 million jobs, halving the country's debt burden, raising foreign exchange reserves to a comfortable position and propping the country's exchange rate, restoring investors' confidence and most importantly, taking Pakistan out of the IMF Program.

The above facts were acknowledged by the PPP government in a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) for 2008/09-2009/10, while signing agreement with the IMF on November 20, 2008. The document clearly (but grudgingly) acknowledged that "Pakistan's economy witnessed a major economic transformation in the last decade. The country's real GDP increased from $60 billion to $170 billion, with per capita income rising from under $500 to over $1000 during 2000-07" elevating Pakistan from low-income to middle-income country.




IMF MOU of 2008 further acknowledged that Pakistan's "volume of international trade increased from $20 billion to nearly $60 billion. The improved macroeconomic performance enabled Pakistan to re-enter the international capital markets in the mid-2000s. Large capital inflows financed the current account deficit and contributed to an increase in gross official reserves to $14.3 billion at end-June 2007. Buoyant output growth, low inflation, and the government's social policies contributed to a reduction in poverty and improvement in many social indicators". (see MEFP, November 20, 2008, Para 1)




Pakistan experienced rapid economic and human capital growth in years 2000 to 2008 on President Pervez Musharraf's watch. Savings, investments and exports hit new records and the rate of increase in human development reached new highs not seen before or since this period.

Savings and Investments:

Domestic savings rate reached 18% of the GDP and foreign direct investment (FDI) hit a record level of $5.4 billion in 2007-8. This combination of domestic and foreign investments nearly tripled the size of the economy from $60 billion in 1999 to $170 billion in 2007, according to IMF. Exports nearly tripled from about $7 billion in 1999-2000 to $22 billion in 2007-2008, adding millions of more jobs. Pakistan was lifted from a poor, low-income country with per capita income of just $500 in 1999 to a middle-income country with per capita income exceeding $1000 in 2007.


Pakistan Per Capita Income 1960-2012. Source: World Bank



The PPP government summed up General Musharraf's accomplishments well when it signed a 2008 Memorandum of Understanding with the International Monetary Fund which said:

"Pakistan's economy witnessed a major economic transformation in the last decade. The country's real GDP increased from $60 billion to $170 billion, with per capita income rising from under $500 to over $1000 during 2000-07" to elevate Pakistan from low-income to middle-income group. It further acknowledged that "the volume of international trade increased from $20 billion to nearly $60 billion. The improved macroeconomic performance enabled Pakistan to re-enter the international capital markets in the mid-2000s. Large capital inflows financed the current account deficit and contributed to an increase in gross official reserves to $14.3 billion at end-June 2007. Buoyant output growth, low inflation, and the government's social policies contributed to a reduction in poverty and improvement in many social indicators". (see MEFP, November 20, 2008, Para 1)

Human Capital Development:

In addition to the economic revival, Musharraf focused on social sector as well. Pakistan's HDI grew an average rate of 2.7% per year under President Musharraf from 2000 to 2007, and then its pace slowed to 0.7% per year in 2008 to 2012 under elected politicians, according to the 2013 Human Development Report titled “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”.




Overall, Pakistan's human development score rose by 18.9% during Musharraf years and increased just 3.4% under elected leadership since 2008. The news on the human development front got even worse in the last three years, with HDI growth slowing down as low as 0.59% — a paltry average annual increase of under 0.20 per cent. Going further back to the decade of 1990s when the civilian leadership of the country alternated between PML (N) and PPP, the increase in Pakistan's HDI was 9.3% from 1990 to 2000, less than half of the HDI gain of 18.9% on Musharraf's watch from 2000 to 2007.


R&D Spending Jumped 7-fold as % of GDP 1999-2007 Source: World Bank

Acceleration of HDI growth during Musharraf years was not an accident. Not only did Musharraf's policies attracted significant new domestic and foreign investments to accelerate economic growth, they also helped create 13 million new jobs, cut poverty in half and halved the country's total debt burden in the period from 2000 to 2007, his government also ensured significant investment and focus on education and health care. The annual budget for higher education increased from only Rs 500 million in 2000 to Rs 28 billion in 2008, to lay the foundations of the development of a strong knowledge economy, according to former education minister Dr. Ata ur Rehman.

Student enrollment in universities increased from 270,000 to 900,000 and the number of universities and degree awarding institutions increased from 57 in 2000 to 137 by 2008. Government R&D spending jumped from 0.1% of GDP in 1999 to 0.7% of GDP in 2007. In 2011, a Pakistani government commission on education found that public funding for education has been cut from 2.5% of GDP in 2007 to just 1.5% - less than the annual subsidy given to the various PSUs including Pakistan Steel and PIA, both of which continue to sustain huge losses due to patronage-based hiring.

To see a discussion of the above subject and the current situation, please watch the following video:

Civil-military Stand-Off on Musharraf Trial; Musharraf Govt's Performance Record fromWBT TV on Vimeo.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Musharraf Earned Legitimacy By Good Governance

Musharraf Wants to Face Trial; Military Opposed to it

Saving Pakistan's Education

Political Patronage Trumps Public Policy in Pakistan

Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman Defends Pakistan's Higher Education Reforms

Twelve Years Since Musharraf's Coup

Musharraf's Legacy

Pakistan's Economic Performance 2008-2010

Role of Politics in Pakistan Economy

India and Pakistan Compared in 2011

Musharraf's Coup Revived Pakistan's Economy

What If Musharraf Had Said No?

Human Development in Musharraf Years


Haq's Musings: Pakistan GDP Grew Just 4.1% in 2013-14: Is it Another Lost Decade?

 

[ahmad raza jutt]

musharaf goverment is likly to the people because he works.

 

[batmannow]

Not only the head money but direct aid. It is a fact and I don't find the need to start what we have discussed half a million times before. Read this report if you have some time and also know the covert aid we hardly ever found it worthwhile to mention.

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Final_DP_2009_06_08092009.pdf


Not true, the aid started coming soon after the earthquake happened. The world needed Pakistan and the original plea of $5 billion dollars was overwhelmed and the pledges worth above $9 billion dollars were made as I don't remember the exact amount.

Later many pledges were not fulfilled but billions of dollars had already been disbursed (rumoured to have eaten up by the menace of corruption) between 2005 - 2008 before Musharraf resigned as President of Pakistan.


All I can say is, Musharraf did number of good things about economy of Pakistan but people give him undue credit for many things he did not do. I have seen people exaggerating the figure of Pakistan's economy in 1999 and 2007 very often but this figure of $30 billion dollars in 1999 and 200 billion dollars in 2007/08 is pretty new.

The last time I checked Pakistan's economy only reached around 200 billion dollars mark around 2013-14 so I wonder if Musharraf is still ruling? Also there were consistent attempts to curb down Pakistan's GDP in 1999 from around 76 billion dollars to 75, 70, 65 and the latest figure I had heard was 60 billion dollars. But you somehow managed to bring it down further to $30 billion dollars. I don't want to go in debate with all that, lets go with the credible source of IMF which suggests Pakistan's GDP of $76.86 billion dollars in 1999 and $152.460 billion dollars in 2007.

Report for Selected Countries and Subjects

Sure from "karaz uttaro mulk sanwaroo" to fastest growing economy it all happened with a magic stick ?
I mean, non of this stupid democrats can at least take us as nation , from where musharaf lefted ?
That's matter of fact ,not to b seen in stupid manipulated data basses to justyfy the existence of stupid damocrazy ?

 

[Hyde]

Sure from "karaz uttaro mulk sanwaroo" to fastest growing economy it all happened with a magic stick ?
I mean, non of this stupid democrats can at least take us as nation , from where musharaf lefted ?
That's matter of fact ,not to b seen in stupid manipulated data basses to justyfy the existence of stupid damocrazy ?

Your main focus is on the sweet era of 2004 to late 2005 when Pakistan was not suffering from extreme menace of terrorism, the whole world was blessing Pakistan with dollars and USA making us major non-nato Ally and throwing away cash in return of support and permission to use its land for various activities. Otherwise there was never a moment during all these years when Pakistan really progressed so fast that the whole world would start talking about it.

It was just 1-2 years of good performance which somewhat came close to the progress of our neighbouring nations of China, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka otherwise we have been under-performing in all sectors including economy when you compare with rest of the subcontinent.

The problem is, Musharraf is directly responsible for wrong policies of curbing terrorism through the means of force without taking people under confidence which ignited the tensions in Balcohistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. What people cheer about is "some" economic policies and nothing else but even those economic policies were never long term and only lasted for 1-2 years when the world had started seeing rise of Asia.

By the time Musharraf had gone, the foreign debt had triggered to rise sharply which had risen from around 33 billion dollars to 46 billion dollars within couple of months. Pakistan was standing on the verge of bankruptcy and was bound to go to IMF for immediate loan in order to prevent being defaulted. What you don't see is the era you cherish about was somewhere in the middle of his government and the era he was forced to resign, we were no longer among the top performing nations, the terrorism incidents had peaked to several bomb blasts per week, the whole world had labelled us as the face of terrorism, the judiciary and media had been made to shut up and the whole nation was outside the streets.

 

[batmannow]

Your main focus is on the sweet era of 2004 to late 2005 when Pakistan was not suffering from extreme menace of terrorism, the whole world was blessing Pakistan with dollars and USA making us major non-nato Ally and throwing away cash in return of support and permission to use its land for various activities. Otherwise there was never a moment during all these years when Pakistan really progressed so fast that the whole world would start talking about it.

It was just 1-2 years of good performance which somewhat came close to the progress of our neighbouring nations of China, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka otherwise we have been under-performing in all sectors including economy when you compare with rest of the subcontinent.

The problem is, Musharraf is directly responsible for wrong policies of curbing terrorism through the means of force without taking people under confidence which ignited the tensions in Balcohistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. What people cheer about is "some" economic policies and nothing else but even those economic policies were never long term and only lasted for 1-2 years when the world had started seeing rise of Asia.

By the time Musharraf had gone, the foreign debt had triggered to rise sharply which had risen from around 33 billion dollars to 46 billion dollars within couple of months. Pakistan was standing on the verge of bankruptcy and was bound to go to IMF for immediate loan in order to prevent being defaulted. What you don't see is the era you cherish about was somewhere in the middle of his government and the era he was forced to resign, we were no longer among the top performing nations, the terrorism incidents had peaked to several bomb blasts per week, the whole world had labelled us as the face of terrorism, the judiciary and media had been made to shut up and the whole nation was outside the streets.

Several bomb blast per week were happening when all of so called , traitors stupid damocrazy political mafia like JI, PTI, PMLn were supporting these terrorists to set the score with the most progressive govt of Pakistan , all the times ?
& if we compare that , even the last of his tenure in 2008 , Pakistan still with all the terrorism was having better economy then of today even if we put togather , PPP + PMLn all together , all of their dam 3 decades ?
Judiciary is still a leaving stock , cause the same CJ who gave him all the constitutional powers in 99 was , dancing on CIA awards in 2007 against him ?
Is there any secret how croupt he still is & was ?

 

[Hyde]

Several bomb blast per week were happening when all of so called , traitors stupid damocrazy political mafia like JI, PTI, PMLn were supporting these terrorists to set the score with the most progressive govt of Pakistan , all the times ?

By that logic, why not give credit of improved economy to JI, PTI and PML-N? If they are responsible despite having 0 significance between 1999 and 2007 in National politics then they should also be responsible for other things you have mentioned.

The fact of the matter is, the poor handling of Akbar Bugti murder case, Lal Masjid and not gaining public confidence before taking major actions led to anarchy in Pakistan. The rising volume of missing cases, political instability and total dominance by one man led to political violence and chaos in the country. The dictatorship is just not meant for democratic Pakistan. It is simply incompatible as it starts corroding and stinking after couple of years.

& if we compare that , even the last of his tenure in 2008 , Pakistan still with all the terrorism was having better economy then of today even if we put togather , PPP + PMLn all together , all of their dam 3 decades ?

Yeah but if you see "The Great Recession" also began in 2008 just before the resignation of Musharraf. If Pakistan is part of the same world then it also had to bear fruit of recession. Our exports had come to halt after the first world lacked purchasing power. Besides Germany how many countries really managed to cope with the Great recession? not many... so many countries posting growth rate of above 5% were positing 0 or negative growth for couple of years. Pakistan too became effected by this... On top of that we also faced from one of the biggest floods in the history of Pakistan and not to forget the major action against Talibaboons in Swat taking place which literally focused our attention to other priorities but economy.

I am not defending anybody here but the temporary growth during Musharraf's era was not a permanent solution, it was more like one-time offer which we cashed as much as we could and after that bumper offer expired, our natural growth is comparatively lower than most of the neighbouring countries.

 

[That Guy]

Not only the head money but direct aid. It is a fact and I don't find the need to start what we have discussed half a million times before. Read this report if you have some time and also know the covert aid we hardly ever found it worthwhile to mention.

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Final_DP_2009_06_08092009.pdf


Not true, the aid started coming soon after the earthquake happened. The world needed Pakistan and the original plea of $5 billion dollars was overwhelmed and the pledges worth above $9 billion dollars were made as I don't remember the exact amount.

Later many pledges were not fulfilled but billions of dollars had already been disbursed (rumoured to have eaten up by the menace of corruption) between 2005 - 2008 before Musharraf resigned as President of Pakistan.


All I can say is, Musharraf did number of good things about economy of Pakistan but people give him undue credit for many things he did not do. I have seen people exaggerating the figure of Pakistan's economy in 1999 and 2007 very often but this figure of $30 billion dollars in 1999 and 200 billion dollars in 2007/08 is pretty new.

The last time I checked Pakistan's economy only reached around 200 billion dollars mark around 2013-14 so I wonder if Musharraf is still ruling? Also there were consistent attempts to curb down Pakistan's GDP in 1999 from around 76 billion dollars to 75, 70, 65 and the latest figure I had heard was 60 billion dollars. But you somehow managed to bring it down further to $30 billion dollars. I don't want to go in debate with all that, lets go with the credible source of IMF which suggests Pakistan's GDP of $76.86 billion dollars in 1999 and $152.460 billion dollars in 2007.

Report for Selected Countries and Subjects

Ah, my mistake, I may have remembered it wrong. Still, 76 billion to 152 billion, that's still a huge increase. Regardless of the actual figure, my main point still stands, credit where it is due. With two successive civilian governments, Pakistan's GDP has not increased all that much, with only very shy gains. In the same amount of time, Musharraf's government was much further ahead.

 

[Hyde]

Ah, my mistake, I may have remembered it wrong. Still, 76 billion to 152 billion, that's still a huge increase. Regardless of the actual figure, my main point still stands, credit where it is due. With two successive civilian governments, Pakistan's GDP has not increased all that much, with only very shy gains. In the same amount of time, Musharraf's government was much further ahead.

The figures does not tell the whole story otherwise as per IMF Pakistan's GDP in 2009 was around 169 billion dollars and in 2015 it's 271 billion dollars... rise of 102 billion dollars in past 6 years?

So should I safely assume that PPP and PML-N managed to increase 102 billion in just 6 years compared to Musharraf's 80-90 billion dollars in 8-9 years?

When the economy is big in developing nations, it expands faster.

The government of Musharraf did take some positive steps to promote economic environment in the country but it also made big errors to negate what he had achieved. We should see both sides of the picture