Ahsan Ali Khan
The history of Pakistan’s economic development has been both impressive and disappointing at different times. The initial decades played a vital role in the development of the country, as Pakistan witnessed the highest economic growth rate among all the South Asian countries, during the first twenty years of independence. The World Bank statistics from the year 2002 show that Pakistan alone had exports more than Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Turkey combined in 1965.
It is worth mentioning that the manufacturing sector played a key role in the development of the country. Resultantly, Pakistan progressed from the status of a low-income country to that of a lower middle-income country and achieved the objective of poverty alleviation.
Fortunately, with the contributions from the manufacturing sector as well as the private sector, Pakistan was able to set a path for its economic development.
However, the 1970’s didn’t prove to be very congenial for Pakistan’s economic progress. Due to a change of regime and nationalization of several institutions, a massive disruption was caused in the economic sector which acted as a great setback for the private sector. Subsequently, the separation of East Pakistan from West Pakistan was also one of the main factors contributing to a decline in the country’s economic growth. As a result, Pakistan became the slowest growing country in the region.
Fortunately, in the 1980’s Pakistan revived its economic growth by revising the 1970’s nationalization regime. The private sector was revived which led to economic progress. Furthermore, poverty and unemployment indexes decreased. Once again the manufacturing sector played a key role in the growth with an export boom in the 1980’s.
Pakistan, despite seeing its downs over the years, has worked its way up to be called a developing country. Today, Pakistan is striving to achieve and improve its status from a developing country to a developed country, from a lower middle-income country to high income country. With increasing national savings and growing foreign investments, Pakistan is anticipated to achieve its goal of sustainable growth in the near future. Additionally,, projects like China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are expected to be beneficial for the nation in its race towards economic development.
The author Ahsan Ali Khan, currently interning at Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Completing Bachelors in Sociology from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
