Home  info info Pakistani Businesses Crave for Democracy and Stability
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Pakistani Businesses Crave for Democracy and Stability |
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In the wake of the assassination of former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, the country was reduced to a place which has been visited by a guided tornado. Even to this day the country’s economy is resonated with the destruction caused by arson and widespread vandalism. As per the estimates provided by Karachi’s Chamber of Commerce, the losses are pegged at $1.3 billion and residual effect is beyond assessment. The devastation was not confined to domestic establishments but to even multi-national companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Philip Morris International, etc. The Italian garment manufacturer, Maxco Private Ltd put the losses at $25 million.
President Musharaf’s persistent actions including dismissing of the judges, delay on the decision of exact election date, declaration of stopgap state of emergency, etc. transformed Pakistan into a seething volcano about to be erupted. Since September 11-2001, Mushraf was able to get sustained funding from the US to the tune of $11 billion and had vastly helped the economy to grow at 7%. This in-turn spurred him to take partisan actions which were not in the interest of the nation. At present, the projected economic growth for the year 2008 is 6.6%, but it should be noted that the same projection in last July was around 8%. The worst affected due to the crisis is the garment industry which thrived with good export demand before destabilization and they expect a turn-around after the forthcoming general elections.
Some industrialists concern that the current international image of Pakistan would slow down the foreign direct investments. This would deteriorate the manufacturing and supporting infra-structural developments. Lack of funds will further reduce production which will have far-flung implication on the job market, and jobless youth could be easily tantalized by the carrots provided by the terrorist outfits. Majority of the businessmen expressed hopes in the elections to be held in Feb 18. They believe that democratic Pakistan can bring peace and stability to the country as well as the region quickly. Democratic Pakistan will certainly engage in image building process and if that could happen soon after elections, achieving 8% growth would not be a dream.
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