Pakistan in Media

The British Council's "Next Generation Report on Pakistan" provides perhaps the clearest picture of how our younger generation thinks and feels about their homeland. Its measured tones and careful analysis make uncomfortable reading despite both positive and negative paths being detailed. The sampling of the surveys that underpin the report is broad and its conclusions derived from data which is comprehensive. The report identifies something called the 'demographic dividend' which is a period where there is a favourable ratio of potentially productive young people, to old. The window of opportunity to exploit this began in 1990 and we have done nothing to take advantage of it since; and the window will close in 2045 (by when society will be aging rapidly) giving us thirty-five years to turn the tide. Alongside the possible opportunity there is demographic disaster which will only be averted by aggressive and sustained action by successive governments. The research indicates that one-third of the growth experienced by East Asian economies in their boom years can be traced to this demographic structure; and if we are able to harness it effectively we could see economic growth increase by as much as one-fifth by 2030.

Our young generation is politically disillusioned. They are very loyal and strongly nationalistic but only 10 per cent have any faith in the key institutions of state – national and local governance, the police and the courts. In terms of identity 75 per cent see themselves as Muslims first and secondly as Pakistanis with just 14 per cent seeing themselves primarily as a citizen of Pakistan. Democracy gets short shrift with 33 per cent seeing it as the right system for us and another 33 per cent preferring some form of Sharia. A majority are critical of the way Pakistan has been manipulated by the international community for most of its life. Despite attempts at optimism, there is little cheer in the report, especially when it is laid alongside the failure of virtually every government we have had to address the issues it identifies and which have been there from the beginning. We cannot throw up our hands and claim ignorance because this particular elephant in the living room has been standing there for over sixty years. Either we invest in our young generation now or we wither and fail in thirty-five years time — our choice is that stark.

Daily Times, Pakistan, Friday, July 10, 2009
After a meeting with heads or representatives of Sindh, Balochistan, the NWFP, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, the Northern Areas and Punjab, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced Wednesday that the Local Government elections, due in the current year, stood postponed till further decision in this regard by the provinces. Meanwhile, the local bodies (LBs) would be run by administrators appointed by the provincial governments from out of the state bureaucracy. (Local government elections are held every four years and the last ones were held in August 2005.)
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The News International, Pakistan, Friday, July 10, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank finds corruption a serious and growing obstacle to the investment climate in Pakistan besides expressing dissatisfaction over the issue of governance in the country.

In its 128-page draft report on Pakistan’s Investment Climate dated March 16, 2009, the WB said that corruption is largely associated with business-government interface and reveals that the menace is more widespread here as compared to other countries though the bribe rates here are lower. Referring to a survey conducted for the formulation of the draft report, the Bank says that results show that perceptions about corruption in Pakistan are based on actual experiences with paying bribes by the investing firms. It reveals that the firms making investment in Pakistan have to pay bribes even to get water, telephone and electricity connections.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Monday, 06 Jul, 2009
IN the times we live in, human capital has emerged as the most significant and decisive factor in a country’s progress. One can safely say that most developed countries owe their rise to their educated and skilled manpower.

Interestingly, countries replete with natural resources and other assets are lagging behind primarily because of a dearth of trained human capital. Pakistan has an inherent advantage as it has a larger younger population whose strengths and skills can be tapped for national development in order to be turned into real human capital.
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Daily Times, Pakistan, Tuesday, June 30, 2009
An American journal has compiled a list of 177 states with a descending order of viability in the modern world; and Pakistan is in the top ten “failed states”. There is only a marginal improvement in status as the last time the list appeared Pakistan was 9th on it. The other “top-notchers” are: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic and Guinea. The journal ranks states on the basis of the following factors: demographic pressure, refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievance, uneven development, economic decline, de-legitimisation of the state, public service, human rights, factionalised elites and external intervention.
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The News International, Thursday, June 25, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed the Rs 2.9 trillion federal budget for the year 2009-10 after the passage of finance bill.

All the amendments by the government in the bill presented by Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar were passed by the house.

The budget, presented in the National Assembly on the 13th of this month would be effective from July 1st.

The budget focuses on achieving the goal of sustainable economic growth and ensuring welfare of the people on equitable basis.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2009
There is a reason why I have begun this article on the budget with a reference to the ongoing struggle between the state and non-state actors and why I said that extremism is not the only problem the country faces. There is also the problem of an economy that has suffered perhaps the most severe shock in the country’s history.
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Daily Times, Pakistan,Tuesday, June 16, 2009
development: Syed Mohammad Ali
Punjab has been trying to sublet the management of health services within its basic health units to the Punjab Rural Support Programme. To further strengthen management of health service delivery, there is need to improve the delays in the procurement of essential drugs as well

Ensuring the physical well being of its citizens may be the basic responsibility of a state, but doing so in effect poses significant challenges for our existing public healthcare system. Let us try and explore the concerned issues by focusing on just one province of the country, Punjab, which with 90 million people constitutes more then half the population of the entire country.
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The News International, Pakistan

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Pakistan's nobility now has its own equivalent of Marie Antoinette's 'let them eat cake' comment. Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin, defending the imposition of 'carbon tax,' and the impending rise in oil prices, straight-facedly advised the people of Pakistan to use public transport. The question that the public will want to ask the honourable finance adviser is, 'what public transport?' Mr Tarin's comment may have been well-intentioned, but it reflects a continuation of our leadership's detachment from ground realities. The reality is that the public transport system, whatever there is of it, is in a shambles - particularly in the urban centres of Pakistan. Not one of the major cities can boast a half-decent transport system.
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Daily Times,Pakistan, Monday, June 15, 2009
comment: Shahzad Chaudhry
Dependence on donors’ pledges is so pervasive that most television channels now need to run a line asking the nation to pray for the success of the prayer on which the Budget is premised!

In the days leading up to the next fiscal year’s budget, what has been keeping the mandarins of the finance ministry engaged has been another matter — how poor are Pakistanis?

By all accounts, and some verified numerical processes of none other than the World Bank, the poverty rate for 2007-8 had been determined at 17 percent. This would have been a six percent reduction in poverty over the 2006-7 performance of the economy when the poverty figure came down from thirties to around 23 percent.
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Daily Times, Monday, June 15, 2009
The Budget 2009-10 has an outlay of Rs 2.48 trillion with an anticipated deficit of Rs 722.5 billion or 4.9 percent of GDP, aiming at a growth rate of 3.3 percent of the GDP. A negative reaction to it at the national level has already set in, which is intense despite the fact that this kind of thing happens routinely every year, starting many decades ago when the country first tilted into political instability, bad law and order and terrorism. Budgets have always “disappointed” everyone and not lived up to their projections. Hence the lack of confidence in budgetary predictions.
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The News International, Pakistan
Sunday, June 14, 2009
We made a similar prediction when we wrote the editorial for fiscal 2008-09’s budget and regrettably what we said last year seems to apply this year as well – that many of the targets mentioned by Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar in her budget speech on Saturday seemed overly optimistic. Consider the basics: the government foresees a 23.5 per cent increase in total expenditure to 2.48 trillion rupees (around $30.5 billion) with development spending (the PSDP allocation) increasing by around 17.45 per cent to 646 billion rupees. The official news agency which gave details of this on the wires as the speech was being delivered in parliament did not shy away from calling the PSDP (Public Sector Development Programme) allocation the “highest in the country’s history”. Obviously, whoever used such a phrase is not familiar with the fact that such allocations need to rise over time, mainly because more funds and resources are needed to supply an ever-growing population the same amount of basic services and amenities. This would mean that in all likelihood the PSDP allocation for next year would be even higher and the one for the year after that higher still – and so on and so forth – and should not mean any singular achievement in this regard by the present government. Furthermore, the outgoing fiscal saw several cuts in 2008-09’s budget PSDP allocation so there is no guarantee that the same thing will not be repeated during 2009-2010, especially since we now have a massive IDP situation.
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The News International, Pakistan

Friday, June 12, 2009

Much of what was unveiled by the ministry of finance via the Economic Survey 2008-09 was expected and served to only confirm that the economy is well and truly in recession. A telling statistic was the reduction in imports for 2008-09 -- by over 26 per cent compared to the previous year. Since a country's imports are a direct correlation of its income and GDP, the single statistic alone should be enough to confirm that the economy is now on a recessionary path. Another related statistic is growth in the manufacturing sector which actually shrank by 3.3 per cent during 2008-09 compared to an increase of 4.8 per cent last year (large-scale manufacturing, a sub-head, shrunk by 7.7 per cent). The economy's growth rate was markedly down from estimates made at the beginning of the financial year – when it was predicted to be well above five per cent – at a worryingly low two per cent. This is more or less half of what the economy managed to achieve during 2007-08 which was first put at 5.8 per cent and has now been clipped to 4.1 per cent – which means a reduction by almost 50 per cent! This is to be expected given the significant pressures on the economy: the worldwide recession (other countries have suffered far worse, a case in point being several EU states where GDP is predicted to actually in real terms) and the fallout of the war on terror in terms of a vastly deteriorated law and order situation and its obvious consequence in terms of a negative outlook for business and investment prospects.

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Daily Times, Pakistan
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
development: Syed Mohammad Ali

Expecting development agencies to compel government representatives, many of whom are also large landowners themselves, to take up the issue of land reforms may be nothing more then wishful thinking

The realisation that poverty is still largely a rural phenomenon for Pakistan is not enough. There is an attendant need to further understand the interrelation of poverty with land access. Like everything else however, even landholding patterns alter over time and these alterations need to be kept in mind while considering means for empowering the poor. Furthermore, providing a poor person with a piece of land is not enough, given that it does not automatically result in his condition.

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