Pakistan economy

[sajjad_dar2000]

Pakistan, an impoverished and underdeveloped country, has suffered from decades of internal political disputes, low levels of foreign investment, and a costly, ongoing confrontation with neighboring India. However, IMF-approved government policies, bolstered by generous foreign assistance and renewed access to global markets since 2001, have generated solid macroeconomic recovery the last three years. The government has made substantial macroeconomic reforms since 2000, although progress on more politically sensitive reforms has slowed. For example, in the third and final year of its $1.3 billion IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, Islamabad has continued to require waivers for energy sector reforms. While long-term prospects remain uncertain, given Pakistan's low level of development, medium-term prospects for job creation and poverty reduction are the best in nearly a decade. Islamabad has raised development spending from about 2% of GDP in the 1990s to 4% in 2003, a necessary step towards reversing the broad underdevelopment of its social sector. GDP growth, spurred by double-digit gains in industrial production over the past year, has become less dependent on agriculture. Foreign exchange reserves continued to reach new levels in 2004, supported by robust export growth and steady worker remittances.

Economy in 1994
National product real growth rate 4% (1994 est.)
National product GDP - purchasing power parity - $248.5 billion (1994 est.)
National product per capita $1,930 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 12% (FY93/94)
Unemployment rate 10% (FY90/91 est.)

Economy in 2004
National Product real growth rate 6%
National product GDP-purchasing poer parity- $347.3 billion
National product per capita purchasing power parity - $2,200
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 4.8% FY 03/04
Unemployment rate 8.3% plus substantial underemployment (2004 est.)