PAF Fan,
Surely Pakistan is making significant progress, but you give us a a very unbalanced and rosy view of the situation. Let’s see what the world bank has to say about Pakistan:
DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS
Pakistan has made significant development progress in its 56 years since independence, as measured by some key social indicators. Health and education services have expanded and improved, and life expectancy has increased from 59 years in 1990 to 63 in 2001. Infant and maternal mortality rates have dropped, as have illiteracy rates. In the late 1990s, Pakistan was in a position of extreme vulnerability, and, after a decade of inward-looking policies, in November 1999 the country embarked on a significant economic reform program and has since achieved considerable improvements.
Pakistan has turned around a deteriorating macroeconomic situation to a rapidly improving one. In 2002/03, GDP grew by an estimated 5.1 percent while inflation remained low at 3.3 percent. The budget deficit was contained at 4.6 percent of GDP. However, despite these favorable developments, Pakistan still lags behind countries with comparable per capita income in most social indicators. Only 44 percent of Pakistan’s population is literate, compared to an average of 64 percent of the population in countries with similar income per capita.
The Government of Pakistan’s economic reform program, now in its fourth year, has renewed hope that these development challenges can be tackled seriously. But this will not be achieved without fully developing human capital, improving the investment climate, and increasing productivity growth to sustain the 5 or 6 percent annual growth rate needed to significantly reduce poverty. In addition, a greater challenge faces Pakistan: that of its transformation—politically, economically, socially, and with respect to gender—to a modern state.
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DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
Poverty remains a serious concern in Pakistan. With a per capita gross national income (GNI) of $420, poverty rates, which had fallen substantially in the 1980s and early 1990s, started to rise again towards the end of the decade. According to the latest figures (for 1998-99), as measured by Pakistan’s poverty line, 33 percent of the population is poor. More importantly, differences in income per capita across regions have persisted or widened. Poverty varies significantly among rural and urban areas and from province to province, from a low of 16 percent in the northeastern areas to 44 percent in the North West Frontier Province.
Despite the recent economic improvements, Pakistan’s external and public debt are both quite large, and there are concerns over the fragility of the country’s external position and future growth prospects. Moreover, perceptions about security risks and political instability continue to dampen investor interest and prospects for exports and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the country.
Meeting the vision embraced in the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 (including the reduction of infant and child mortality by two thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters and halving the percentage of the population living in poverty) will require renewed efforts in Pakistan. The World Bank’s assistance strategy is based on measurable outcomes using the MDGs as the background for its engagement in Pakistan.
There are also significant gender gaps in both literacy and health status in Pakistan. Gender disparities in education remain significant. While the male population completes an average of five years of schooling, the female population in Pakistan completes only two and a half years. The enrollment rate for boys is 77 percent as opposed to 60 percent for girls. Maternal mortality remains high at 200 per 100,000 live births.
Pakistan has grown much more than other low-income countries, but has failed to achieve social progress commensurate with its economic growth. The educated and well-off urban population lives not so differently from their counterparts in other countries of similar income range. However, the poor and rural inhabitants of Pakistan are being left behind. For example, access to sanitation in Pakistan is 23 percent lower than in other countries with similar income.
Some figures can be found here:
http://www.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/sendoff.cgi?page=%2Fdata%2Fcountrydata%2Faag%2Fpak_aag.pdf
It says your 2003 GDP was 68.8 Billion US dollars, which is still a long way from 100 Billion and with a debt of 32.6 Billion (2003) it may not be so responsible to make a large procurement.
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