pakistans Economy put on path of higher growth
Business Friday, December 7th, 2007* Musharraf says country’s GDP increased from $63bn to $162bn
* Revenue collection up from Rs 300bn to Rs 1tr
President Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan’s economy,
which was in shambles before October 1999, had been put on the path of
higher growth trajectory through a multi-faceted reforms strategy
conceived and implemented over the last eight years.
“We were
about to be declared as a failed and defaulted state in 1999 in
contrast to what we have achieved now. Our kitty was empty and the
foreign exchange reserves were not even enough to finance the external
payments for two weeks. Standards & Poors and Moodies – world
credit rating agencies – had put Pakistan in the selective default
grade,” he said while speaking in a weekly special PTV programme,
‘Aiwan-e-Sadr Sey’.
The president spoke at length on each and
every aspect of the economy ranging from economic growth to fiscal
discipline, debt management, revenue collection, foreign direct
investment, balance of payments, per capita income and banking sector
reforms.
GDP growth: He said it was because of the economic
reforms strategy followed over the last eight years that the country’s
gross domestic product (GDP), which was $ 63 billion in 1999 had now
reached $ 162 billion, and growing at an average of seven percent over
the last four years. Per capita income increased to $ 925 from $ 435
and debt-to-GDP ratio had come down from 101 percent in 1999 to 54
percent now.
Revenue collection: The president said that revenue
collection which was at around Rs 300 billion in 1999 had crossed a
record Rs 1 trillion, creating more fiscal space for development
expenditures as allocations under the Public Sector Development
Programme (PSDP), which hovered around Rs 80 billion during 1988-99
period had reached Rs 520 billion this year.
Similarly, he said,
owing to the prudent economic polices over the last eight years foreign
direct investment (FDI), which had been around $ 300 million in 1999
had now peaked to $ 6.5 billion, with remittances reaching $ 5.5
billion, exports at $ 17 billion – up from $ 9 billion, imports at $
26-27 billion, forex reserves reaching $ 16 billion and the Karachi
Stock Exchange (KSE) index raised to 14,000 points from a 1000 points
in 1999.
The president said the government had to inject
billions of rupees every year to institutions like United Bank Limited,
Rice Corporation and the National Shipping Corporation, which were
running at a loss.
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on Dec 7 2007. Filed under