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(Pakistan's) Dismal economic performance : (pakistan is a failed state)

Seeded on Sat Jun 4, 2011 1:54 AM EDT
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(Pakistan is a failed state)
Dismal economic performance

Posted on June 4, 2011

The latest Economic Survey of Pakistan, as released by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh at a news conference on Thursday, has portrayed a dismal picture of the performance of sectors key to the national economy; failing to meet most of the targets set for 2010-11, including the vital Gross Domestic Product growth that was set to achieve a target of 4.5 per cent and grew only 2.4 per cent in real terms during the outgoing fiscal. As for the budgetary deficit, this may also swell from an estimate of 5.3 per cent to around 6 per cent despite claims of macroeconomic development and "putting the economy back on track". One significant portrayal is the rising inflationary trend that now stands at 14.1 per cent and food inflation is now touching a whooping 18.4 per cent despite bumper wheat and rice crops. This factor has sent the middle classes and the poor reeling under escalating cost of living making their life miserable. The fact that more inflation is coming from hike in food prices is detrimental to poverty alleviation efforts. The poor GDP growth mainly contributed by services sector (53.3 per cent), agricultural sector (25.8 per cent) and industrial sector (20.9 per cent), is because agriculture gained only by 1.2 per cent and manufacturing sector by 1.71 per cent.There seems a little improvement in collection revenues by 1.71 per cent. The government collected a revenue amounting to Rs1026.5 billion in full fiscal of 2009-10 and this amount has now posted an encouraging Rs1156 billion up to March 2011. Similarly, there is no addition to foreign debt that stands at $55.9 billion as in the previous financial year.
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/?p=22665

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Water Hole

In fact such a data to portray the extent of abject and absolute poverty in the country has not been made available and, obviously, no poverty survey has been in hand for six years. However, poverty was recorded at 35.4 per cent in 2000-01 and the Musharraf’s dictatorial regime claimed five years later that it had come down to 22.3 per cent. All factors like constantly rising prices of food and other essential commodities and utility bills owing to frequent raise in power tariff and prices of petroleum products, besides other socio-economic aspects, some more millions must have found themselves reeling under the poverty line.The survey tells a story of economic failures and not meeting most of the targets for the fiscal 2010-11.

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Sat Jun 4, 2011 1:56 AM EDT
Water Hole

Hit by floods and militancy, Pakistan aims to collect more tax to help revive battered economy

The government is too weak to implement tax reform measures demanded by international lenders keeping the country afloat. Without enough funds, the government has relied on printing money to address the shortfall and pay interest on its debts, fueling inflation and strangling economic growth.

Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh said the government had identified 2.3 million new taxpayers, of which 700,000 would pay an unspecified amount in an initial phase.

Shaikh read out the budget in parliament to shouts of “We reject it” and “Stop lying,” a sign of the intense political animosities that have crippled efforts to find cross-party support for tax reform. It contained few specific measures.

  • 2 votes
Reply#2 - Sat Jun 4, 2011 1:58 AM EDT
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