Bold plans should translate into ultimate action

The Pakistani government has spent the past three days emphasising the robustness of the south Asian country's economy, following an economic recovery now in its third year.

The opportunity to seek a fresh interest on this count came as Pakistan hosted the second international islamic economics conference and sought visitors from around the islamic world, including many armed with billions of dollars from their recent extra oil related revenues.

But the uncertainty over Pakistan's economic future remain pressing as the outlook for the country's economy has to be weighed against its prospects for future development and change.

But already, questions are being raised over a bold claim from Salman Shah, the prime minister's adviser on finance, who proclaimed the budget of the present fiscal year (July-June) to be fundamentally geared towards common people.

He said; "The focus of the budget is on the people, the focus is on the requirements of the people, their development, creating employment opportunities and maintaining financial discipline".

That claim followed an unprecedented rise of 52 per cent to Rs415 billion ($6.91 billion) in development spending this year by comparison to the last year. The rise was driven by the logic of spending more in the hope of perking up Pakistan's economic environment.

However, the Pakistani government's economic strategy is not without its own peculiar set of tough challenges.

Not only does Pakistan face the formidable task of sharply improving the quality of public works, which has to be a key cornerstone to improving the country's infrastructure. Moreover, the expenditure plan comes in a year when Pakistan would soon begin preparing for national elections which are scheduled in October 2007.

Consequently, it is not surprising that the spending plan has been criticised by opposition leaders as a government plank to seek popular support.

In the ultimate analysis, however, the case surrounding the future outlook of Pakistan's economic profile must be settled by the way that its people pass the ultimate verdict. For way too long, Pakistanis have remained exposed to only broken promises by successive leaders. In the past seven years since power was seized in Pakistan by pro-US military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan has indeed gone through a recovery process. But its common people have yet to see the fruits of that recovery.

A quarter to a third of Pakistan's population lives below the poverty line. It is a powerful reality which completely defies optimism.

Consequently, while Pakistan's macro-economic numbers have improved significantly, the quality of life for a large portion of its people has lagged behind.

For Pakistanis, limited jobs in select sectors, may not immediately cause a positive dent in their lives.

In fact, many such impoverished Pakistanis would have reason to remain sceptical over the future of their country as they ask how exactly the economic prosperity links up to them.

In a nutshell, Pakistan risks taking the country towards a new period of economic slide built around the failure of its leaders to translate bold plans in to ultimate action.

Solving this muddle requires not just actions on the economic front but also on the political front. Pakistan's distorted politics promise to keep on fuelling issues and challenges just as corruption and nepotism, which together add to the overall national malaise.

In that sense, the event that has just taken place in Islamabad, has indeed exposed many influential decision makers to the prosperity of Pakistan, shared by its elite. However, Pakistan's success story would remain incomplete as long as the country's ruling regime fails to translate prosperity at the macro level, down to its micro level.

The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.