|
|
|
|
|
|
ARTICLE
- Pakistan Country Brief |
|
|
|
|
| Source
: The World Bank |
Total Pages: 5 |
|
|
|
|
| Pakistan
has made significant development progress since its independence
58 years ago, 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 64 for males
and 66 for females in 2003. Infant and maternal mortality rates
have dropped, as have illiteracy rates. |
|
| During
the 1990’s Pakistan made only modest progress in reducing
poverty and improving the welfare of its people. Growth of real
gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to less than 4 percent and
per capita real income grew by only slightly more than 1 percent
per year, leading to an increase in poverty to 32 percent. Social
indicators stagnated. For example, the net primary enrollment
rate declined from 46 percent in 1991/92 to 42 percent in 2001/02,
with male enrollments declining from 53 percent to 46 percent,
and female from 39 percent to 38 percent. By the late-1990s,
Pakistan was in a position of extreme vulnerability with high
and unsustainable fiscal deficits and heavy debt burden, which
squeezed public investment and social spending. |
|
| Beginning
in 2000, the government initiated a wide-ranging and ambitious
reform program, which has resulted in a dramatic turnaround.
Pakistan has turned around a deteriorating macroeconomic situation
to a rapidly improving one. In 2004/05, GDP grew by over 8 percent.
These macroeconomic achievements have allowed the country to
achieve fiscal consolidation. Both external and internal balances
have strengthened and reserves now cover five months of imports.
Public debt has fallen to 60 percent of GDP from almost 90 percent
in 2000/01. Social and poverty-related expenditures have been
raised from 3.8 percent of GDP in 2001/02 to 4.7 percent of
GDP in 2003/04. The government has also launched far-reaching
structural reforms to privatize public sector enterprises, strengthen
public and corporate governance, liberalize external trade,
and reform the banking sector. |
|
| There
are now indications that these reforms have begun to pay off
in the form of improved development outcomes. Based on the recently
released Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey
(PSLSMS), literacy rates of population 10 years and older have
increased to 53 percent as compared to 45 percent in 2001/02.
While both female and male literacy, at 40 percent and 65 percent
respectively have increased, the gender gap has not shown any
significant reduction. However, despite these favorable developments,
formidable challenges remain. Pakistan’s social indicators
still lag behind countries with comparable per capita incomes. |
|
| DEVELOPMENT
CHALLENGES |
|
| Poverty
remains a serious concern in Pakistan. According to the rebased
GDP numbers, the per capita income comes to US$720; poverty
rates, which had fallen substantially in the 1980s and early
1990s, started to rise again towards the end of the decade.
Though complete data from the recent Integrated Household Survey
is not yet available, it is evident that a large segment of
the population lives in poverty. 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 24 percent in urban
Sindh to 51 percent in rural Sindh. |
|
|
|
| Pages:
1 > 2
> 3 > 4
> 5 |
|
| |
|
|
| You
can send us your articles at yourtieinfo@yahoo.com |
|
|
