Re: Pakistan’s long term financial plans
i think during the past five or so years we have made a tremendous come back from the all time lows the country had been shoved into.
Economic planning is a very tricky business. we had a bunch of finance leaders in the past, and either they were deemed useless by the powers above them or perhaps they just didnt have it in them.
while what the common man cries for is price reduction right away; deflation, the govt cannot let that happen over night. prices are to be reduced but how!? long term processes are involved. ppl want employment for all! it cant happen overnight. at times the govt says they have achieved this and that but in relity theyre just trying to calm the masses down, because the pres, PM or finance minister havent got a magic lamp. to reach a stage where theres good level of employment, where theres general price stability and no inflation the economy has to go throuhg diff stages of experiments and ‘surgeries’, which are painful at times but must for the desired end results. thats what happening now these days. we havent seen results like price reduction or high employment or improving standards of living yet, because it could never be done within 5 yrs! which pres, pm or finance minister of the world could ever pick up a nation at 0 and take it to 100 in 5 yrs!? it is an impossibility!
however, whats happening now is what never happend to Pakistan before. we have finally won foreign trust from investors and nations. those who once called us a war zone and refused to invest have been investing and planning to invest billions in the years to come. the fact that the policies have paved way for better investment, is the giant leap which was the hardest, and the present govt and leadership has been able to do it! call it playing the US bowling well or anything else, the fact remains that this govt is taking the ship higher and higher and InshAllah in some years when the shape of things starts becoming more clear and policies and plannings start falling in shape, the results will come out with better prices; less inflation, more employments opportunities and improvement of standards. These things are results and not the process itself.
The process that’s taking place now is investment, and the govt’s major policy is to ensure maximum investment. Here’s one headline from 2 days ago:
http://dawn.com/2005/04/27/top6.htm
the kind of investments done is also a debatable subject, since it often seems that a number of investments being done are for the high and mighty. I think these high mighty investments are also part of the policy that aims at alluring foreign interest on the Pak soil. The 7 star hotels being built by foreign firms, the beach resorts under dev in Karachi and the multi billion dollar apartments in defense don’t just aim at the rich becoming more rich but creating ground for more action to take place. Plus, there definitely is a lot of work being done directly for the masses, which will do nothing but improve human conditions and benefit the human capital. The constant efforts to build dams, develop new port cities, building highways and roads, creating new universities, educational reforms, scholar hsips, health awareness campaigns and so on…all this has been done more rapidly in the past 5 yrs than it ever did before and that inspite of a billion threats from all over!
I’d say an excellent job and hope to see my Pakistan fly as high as it could. I thank the govt, Pres, PM and the finance planners. Skeptics should take a break and return the massive loans they had written off 
