Pakistan's fast-growing economy lures entrepreneurs
Friday, 7 September 2007
NEW YORK, Sept 6 (APP): Crediting President Pervez Musharraf with Pakistan's economic boom, a leading US financial newspaper yesterday said that despite current political difficulties, the emerging economic force of entrepreneurs are demonstrating confidence in the country's future.
Since President Musharraf's took over in 1999, The Wall Street Journal said in a front page dispatch that Pakistan has become one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.
In the past eight years, sales of cars have climbed 20 per cent annually, televisions 29 per cent, and air conditioners, 206 per cent. Over the past four years, economic growth has averaged 7 per cent, according to government figures.
Pakistan now permits 100 per cent foreign ownership of its banks, prompting more consumer-friendly lending for home mortgages and cars, according to The Journal.
Meanwhile, a telecommunications monopoly has been broken up and policies have been tweaked to reduce user fees, it noted. Cellular subscribers have expanded 94 per cent a year since 1999.
The dispatch said greater access to credit and more mobile phone and Internet connections-have ushered people into the economic and social mainstream.
"Millions of young people now have a way to escape from poverty and get away from extremism," Salman Shah, an economic adviser to the prime minister, was quoted as saying.
While Pakistan has seen an unprecedented consumer boom, 7.9 per cent inflation and a sluggish job market have undercut modest income gains, contends ABN Amro's senior economist in Islamabad, Sakib Sherani.
In his dispatch, correspondent Peter Wonacott wrote, "Scores of new businesses once unseen in Pakistan, from fitness studios to chic coffee shops to hair-transplant centers, are springing up in the wake of a dramatic economic expansion."
The dispatch includes interviews with several entrepreneurs engaged in different businesses, with most saying that Pakistan needs President Mushrraf at the helm to continue its all round progress.
Since President Musharraf's took over in 1999, The Wall Street Journal said in a front page dispatch that Pakistan has become one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.
In the past eight years, sales of cars have climbed 20 per cent annually, televisions 29 per cent, and air conditioners, 206 per cent. Over the past four years, economic growth has averaged 7 per cent, according to government figures.
Pakistan now permits 100 per cent foreign ownership of its banks, prompting more consumer-friendly lending for home mortgages and cars, according to The Journal.
Meanwhile, a telecommunications monopoly has been broken up and policies have been tweaked to reduce user fees, it noted. Cellular subscribers have expanded 94 per cent a year since 1999.
The dispatch said greater access to credit and more mobile phone and Internet connections-have ushered people into the economic and social mainstream.
"Millions of young people now have a way to escape from poverty and get away from extremism," Salman Shah, an economic adviser to the prime minister, was quoted as saying.
While Pakistan has seen an unprecedented consumer boom, 7.9 per cent inflation and a sluggish job market have undercut modest income gains, contends ABN Amro's senior economist in Islamabad, Sakib Sherani.
In his dispatch, correspondent Peter Wonacott wrote, "Scores of new businesses once unseen in Pakistan, from fitness studios to chic coffee shops to hair-transplant centers, are springing up in the wake of a dramatic economic expansion."
The dispatch includes interviews with several entrepreneurs engaged in different businesses, with most saying that Pakistan needs President Mushrraf at the helm to continue its all round progress.