Look Ahead: Economy
The elections are done and dusted with. The past is over and the future lies ahead of us. Foe a common Pakistani or for any common citizen of the world all the most important thing is the stability in the budget in his/her life. In the end that matters to most Pakistanis - and what lead to the fall of the previous administration - is infact, the cost of living and inflation in day to day use commodities.
I was going through the Economist's Intelligence Unit's forecast for Pakistan. Things are not very encouraging. For the year 2008-09 the economist predicts,
The continuing instability may begin to have a strongly negative effect on foreign investment inflows. The economy is also likely to suffer from a lack of effective policymaking caused by political strife.
The GDP growth is expected to slow down to 5.4% for the present year and the next year.
Inflation will exceed the 6.5 - 7.5% target range and is expected to average 7.9%.
When we look at the outlook of the key economic indicators for the next five years, the situation is especially worse for the years 2008 and 2009. There will be a gradual worsening trend till the next 2 years and then the recovery phase will start.
All these factors are valid if, in my mind, the democratic process is not disrupted for the next twenty years. The past 8 years have been a virtual death sentence for the economy as no major concrete development has taken place. No infrastructure development has taken place. It is another thing that the dictator would have us believe that selling more mobile phones and cars - all of which have been manufactured abroad - is a true and very positive indicator of all the progress that has taken place in these past years. The fact is such that the damage that has been struck by Shaukat Aziz and his world bank friends will remain as a scar on the face of our economy for the next 50 years.
Where real GDP growth rate has moved from 4.8% to 6.4% the inflation has increased from mere 2.9% to 6.7% in the past five years.
Current account balance in 2003 was 3,573.0 million US Dollars, whereas for the year 2007 it has remained -6,374.4 million US Dollars. Total external debts have increased from 35.7 billion US Dollars to 40.0 billion US Dollars in the same time period.
This is just a summary picture of the deterioration that has been made the fate of the Pakistani economy by Shaukat Aziz and Salman Shah. In my mind, therefore, both of these people should be dealt with iron fist and made to repay every penny that they have plundered or have caused to be plundered in this land.
Technorati Tags: Economy, Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, Salman Shah, Policy, Budget
I was going through the Economist's Intelligence Unit's forecast for Pakistan. Things are not very encouraging. For the year 2008-09 the economist predicts,
The continuing instability may begin to have a strongly negative effect on foreign investment inflows. The economy is also likely to suffer from a lack of effective policymaking caused by political strife.
The GDP growth is expected to slow down to 5.4% for the present year and the next year.
Inflation will exceed the 6.5 - 7.5% target range and is expected to average 7.9%.
When we look at the outlook of the key economic indicators for the next five years, the situation is especially worse for the years 2008 and 2009. There will be a gradual worsening trend till the next 2 years and then the recovery phase will start.
All these factors are valid if, in my mind, the democratic process is not disrupted for the next twenty years. The past 8 years have been a virtual death sentence for the economy as no major concrete development has taken place. No infrastructure development has taken place. It is another thing that the dictator would have us believe that selling more mobile phones and cars - all of which have been manufactured abroad - is a true and very positive indicator of all the progress that has taken place in these past years. The fact is such that the damage that has been struck by Shaukat Aziz and his world bank friends will remain as a scar on the face of our economy for the next 50 years.
Where real GDP growth rate has moved from 4.8% to 6.4% the inflation has increased from mere 2.9% to 6.7% in the past five years.
Current account balance in 2003 was 3,573.0 million US Dollars, whereas for the year 2007 it has remained -6,374.4 million US Dollars. Total external debts have increased from 35.7 billion US Dollars to 40.0 billion US Dollars in the same time period.
This is just a summary picture of the deterioration that has been made the fate of the Pakistani economy by Shaukat Aziz and Salman Shah. In my mind, therefore, both of these people should be dealt with iron fist and made to repay every penny that they have plundered or have caused to be plundered in this land.
Technorati Tags: Economy, Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, Salman Shah, Policy, Budget
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