Musharraf’s policies to continue says dissident Minister
WASHINGTON, April 12: The new government does not want to indulge in a “blame game” with the previous rulers, says Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, adding that he plans to continue some economic policies of the outgoing government as well. DAWN
This is good omen that Finance Minister of Pakistan Mr Ishaq Dar has hinted to continue economic policies of previous government. He has been a very harsh critic of financial policies of previous government and after taking the portfolio as Finance Minister and having his first foreign visit to USA, he has realized that country can progress only by continuing financial policies of Musharraf era because it made Pakistan as the fastest growing economy in South Asia. Being an economist he must realize that it was the strength of this economy which observed the international monetary pressures despite international oil price hike and political unrest domestically. It would be advisable for him to consult former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also who had turned the bankrupt economy in 1999 as the growing economy. He should not make factually incorrect claims of the strong economy in 1999 because reports of international financial institutions are available on this subject. Some of the reports are reproduced :-
In its outlook report of 1999 the Asian Development Bank has said that Pakistan’s growth has been impeded by poor governance , sectarian violence, weak policy implementation and lack of private dynamism. 34% of the population was under poverty line in 1994 as against 25.2 % in 1990.and income distribution has worsened. Pakistan’s total external debt is estimated at 31billion $ which is half of its GDP. Including the domestic debt the figure is a staggering 66.5 bn. Dollars . 77% of the budget is consumed by debt servicing and defence spending. Pakistan ranks third in the world in its debt service ratio (interest and principal payments as % of its exports ) after Argentina and Brazil. The Govt. with other spending constraints is practically left with no money for development. According to some reports the Govt, is contemplating to request the AID Pakistan consortium to write off the loans.
The pathological anti Indianness is so acute that Pakistan is not even willing to sell surplus power ( estimated to be around 3000Mws ) to India , losing in the process Rs.2.5 Billion a month as cited by NEWS quoting official sources. Foreign Direct Investment had dropped by 41.2% to 222.2 million dollars in the first seven months of the fiscal year 1998-99
An OXFAM report on education and poverty published early this year says that of all the poor 104 countries it has studied , Pakistan comes out the worst going by the criterion of the resources it invests in education in relation to its national income. Pakistan spends six times more on defence than primary education.and only one third of the Pakistani students complete primary education.
The World bank has said that growth rate in Pakistan is expected to be barely 3% in 1998-99 a sharp decline from 6% the previous year . It has to import 5.5million metric tonnes of wheat due to poor agricultural policies and mismanagement. This will further strain its already precarious balance of payment problem.
