The Hindu : National : Shaukat Aziz bullish on Pakistan's economy

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Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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National

Shaukat Aziz bullish on Pakistan's economy

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, struck a bullish tone on his country's economy, telling a group of Indian editors here on Wednesday that "the Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday" and that all those who had "written us off as a failed state" a few years ago "should find new things to write about."

In the five years since the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, took over, Pakistan has seen a lot of change. "We are today moving towards a much better economic situation. A couple of days ago, we just said goodbye to the IMF [International Monetary Fund]. The IMF is no longer engaged in Pakistan. All our economic indicators are heading north. In the last year or so, the level of investment has picked up rapidly," he said.

Mr. Aziz, who was earlier Pakistan's Finance Minister, described the Pakistani economy as more market-driven than it has ever been. "We are also seeing the emergence of a strong middle class. Net-net, last year we had 6.4 per cent growth in our GDP [Gross Domestic Product]. This year we will be higher... Many of those who talked a few years ago about whether Pakistan's economy is viable, or whether it is a failed state and stuff like that have all been severely disappointed."

Pakistan's vision of itself, Mr. Aziz said, was as "a major player in the region, a country which transcends South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East [West Asia]".

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