Ominous signals

The Frontier Post
EDITORIAL
After disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, PML-N workers took to the streets and staged demonstrations in Lahore and other parts of Punjab. In the wake of unrest and violence at some places, President Asif Ali Zardari imposed governor's rule in the Punjab on the advice of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. Business community is worried that there would be deterioration in the already distressed economic environment. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Sultan Ahmed Chawla said the decision would harm economy, and further hit already dismal economic indicators. Already, foreign and local investors are hesitant in making investments in Pakistan because of the situation in FATA and settled areas in the NWFP. People are suffering from inflation, unemployment and lack of basic facilities of health and education but ruling elite comprising jagirdars, industrial robber barons are unmindful of their conditions. Eminent lawyers are also part of the ruling elite who are spearheading the movement for restoration of deposed judges charge millions of rupees for one case, whereas notable lawyers also have sizeable income. They do not realise that shops and business centres are closed not because of love for certain political party and its leaders but because of fear of damage to their property in an environment of agitation and violence. Daily-wage workers cannot go about their vocations due to non-availability of transport, and a lot of vendors are deprived of the income they earn for their families. According to an official at Ministry of Finance, Pakistan is likely to experience negative growth this year in all sectors of economy except the agriculture sector. Growth in agriculture sector is expected to be around 4.5 per cent depending on wheat production provided the government takes measures to make fertilizers available to the growers without any delay. He reckoned that if targets of agricultural production are missed, the Gross Domestic Product growth rate would be even less than one percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan on Wednesday revised downward all macroeconomic targets, including scaling down of GDP growth rate to 2.5 per cent from earlier envisaged target of 3.5 per cent for the ongoing fiscal year to approve the second tranche of $800 million for Islamabad under Standby Arrangement (SBA) programme. Business community has been demanding the decline in interest rate because expensive credit and high rates of electricity and gas have made Pakistani products uncompetitive in the world market. But the Fund authorities has linked decrease in discount rates with reduction in core inflation, which means that the central bank is unlikely to scale down discount rates in near future. The GDP growth target was envisaged at 4 per cent for the next budget 2009-2010. The inflation, the official said, would be aimed at bringing down from 23 to 20 per cent by June 2009. For the next fiscal year 2009-2010, the inflation target was envisaged at 6 per cent. But these are statistics with which a man on the street is not concerned. He knows that it is difficult for him to eke out a living to keep his body and soul together. The partisans should stop the nasty wrangle and focus on solving problems faced by the people; otherwise they would lose faith in democratic process, which will be a bad omen for the ruling elite of the country.
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Dated: Friday,February 27, 2009, Rabi-ul-Awwal 01, 1430 A.H.