MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDG’S)
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development
Objective of Millennium Development Goals:
The aim of the MDGs is to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries. They derive from earlier international development targets, and were officially established following the Millennium Summit in 2000, where all world leaders present adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
Millennium Development Goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality rates
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS and PAKISTAN
Pakistan is located in an area where South Asia converges with Middle East and Central Asia. The country has a 1046-km-long coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Iran and Afghanistan in the west, India in the east and China in the northeast.
The country is one of the world’s largest cotton producers, with cotton being one of its primary exports. Other significant exports include rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets and rugs. Although Pakistan’s human development indicators have somewhat improved, they still lag behind other countries in the region. The rural and urban economic disparities have increased, particularly in recent years. Nearly 70% of the population of more than 167 million lives in rural areas.
Millennium Development Goal targets for Pakistan
Pakistan has faced serious challenges in the last four years toward meeting many of the MDG targets; stemming largely from a sudden meltdown in the global economy in 2008, along with the sharp rise in oil and food prices earlier that year. Additionally many serious political and economic problems, both external and domestic, have affected developments since 2006. Furthermore, the most recent catastrophic flood, has affected approximately more than 12 million people, cause immense damage to the infrastructure and agriculture of the country.
Achievability of Millennium Development Goals in Pakistan:
1st: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger:
Poverty is about denial of opportunities and fulfillment of human potential. Poverty and inequality are closely related, and inequality appears to have been on the rise worldwide in recent decades at both national and international levels. More than 80% of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. The poorest 40% of the world’s population account for only 5% of global income. On the other hand, the richest 20% account for 75% of world income, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
Although there are disagreements over what the extent of poverty in Pakistan is at the moment, there is a general agreement that the poverty fell in Pakistan over 2002 to 2006 periods, largely on account of high growth, greater donor assistance and increased remittances. Moreover, debt write offs and rescheduling after 9/11, allowed for greater fiscal space than in the past, resulting in high pro poor growth. While poverty fell in this period, there is clear evidence that inequality increased, both in regional terms and in individual incomes as represented by the Ginni- Coefficient. Once the economy started slowing down markedly in around 2008, the fall in poverty slowed and then in all livelihood; has increased in the last two years, largely because of slow economic growth, lower public sector development spending, and very high food and fuel prices resulting in high inflation.
With declining fiscal space, the government was forced to remove a large number of subsidies,
and it is probable that a large number of people have fallen into poverty, which would have negatively impacted human development and, consequently, the country’s ability to achieve the MDG’s.
Initiatives to Alleviate Poverty
· Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)
· Emergency Relief Packages
· The Rights Source (Waseela‐e‐Haq) Initiative
· Vocational Training Product
· Peoples’ Works Programme (PWP) ‐I & II
· Pakistan Bait‐ul‐ Mal (PBM)
· Employees’ Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI)
· Zakat
· Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP- II)
· Punjab Food Support Scheme (PFSS)
· Punjab Sasti Roti Initiative
· Establishment of New Employment Commission
Challenges and Constraints
Targets for the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2009-10, haven’t been met in the three indicators for goal 1, and it doesn’t look likely that the MDG target will be achieved. High growth, low inflation and job creation are required to help in coming close to achieving the MDG 2015 targets.
The growth rate of GDP will have to be increased beyond the levels since FY2008. This is probably the biggest challenge for this Government, and it is still struggling with numerous challenges such as power shortage, the law and order problem, adverse global conditions, high inflation, recent devastating flood. One of the main poverty reduction measures in Pakistan during 2002-07, was high economic growth recorded by most sectors with growth of around 7% on average and with population growth around 2 percent per anum.
2nd: Achieve universal primary education
Primary education in Pakistan:
This goal focuses on three core indicators,
a) Net primary enrollment ratio;
b) Completion or survival from grade 1 to 5
c) Literacy rate.
Some of the major results for all the above mentioned indicators area as follows:
Only 63% of Pakistani children finish primary school education. Furthermore, 68% of Pakistani boys and 72% of Pakistani girls reach grade 5. The standard national system of education is mainly inspired from the British system. As of year 2009, Pakistan faces a net primary school attendance rate for both sexes of 66 per cent. A figure below estimated world average of 90%.
Poor performance in education sector
Pakistan’s poor performance in the education sector is mainly caused by the low level of public investment. Public expenditure on education has been 2.2% of GNP in recent years. In addition, the allocation of government funds is skewed towards higher education, allowing the upper income class to reap majority of the benefits of public subsidy on education. Lower education institutes such as primary schools suffer under such conditions as the lower income classes are unable to enjoy subsidies and quality education. As a result, Pakistan has one of the lowest rates of literacy in the world, and the lowest among countries of comparative resources and socio-economic situations.
According to data available, the net enrolment at primary level has remained below 60 percent until 2008-09 although it has improved marginally over time. The MDG target of achieving 100 percent literacy rate by 2015 requires an increase of almost 40 percentage points in the next four years compared to the 22 percentage points in the last ten years. The performance of the provinces in achieving the Net enrolment Ratio (NER) target is, not surprisingly, in line with their ranking in terms of resources endowment and population size. The interim target for 2009-10 was set as 80% and seems unachievable.
Reasons for High Drop out Rates
The reason for high drop out rate lies both within the educational system and the economic conditions of the households of the students. Intensive research is needed to bring out the factors that account for such high drop out rates. In Pakistan, the quality of education has a declining trend. Causative factors include:
Defective curricula, dual medium of instruction, poor quality of teachers, cheating in the examinations and overcrowded classrooms, Shortage of teachers and poorly equipped laboratories
Challenges and Constraints
Importance of MDG commitment is not well understood, particularly in the smaller provinces. At present, the budgetary allocations are not sufficient enough to successfully implement these projects and accomplish these goals of achieving universal primary education by 2015. The target for education still remains at less than 2% of GDP out of which the major account is spent on administrative issues like salaries and other requirements leaving minimal amount to spend for the new initiatives.
Pakistan’s literacy rate remains considerably short of the MDG target of 88% by 2005; however yet it has marginally improved from 53% to 57% during 2004-05 and 2008-09, respectively. However this realization that the targets will not be met doesn’t deter the government from working to achieve the targets; rather it spurs it on to rectify the shortfalls and to make the commitment that it will move as close to the targets for 2015 as it possibly can.
New Initiatives
The National Education Policy (NEP) document identifies following policy actions:
· To achieve the commitments of Government of Pakistan towards Education for All (EFA) and the MDG’s inclusive child-friendly education shall be promoted.
· Provinces shall affirm the goal of achieving universal and free primary education by 2015 and up to class 10 by 2025.
· Promotion of equity in education, greater opportunities to marganalised groups of society, particularly girls.
· A National Education Standard Authority shall be established
· Research work in universities for promoting innovations in the economy.
Although during Pervaiz Musharraf’s era, a lot of work was done for the promotion of Education, especially Primary education in Pakistan. He gave scholarships for the promotion of education especially in rural areas of Pakistan. After his period, all the scholarship schemes were stopped. We have failed to do a recognizable work in the educational sector. In the international ranking regarding Primary education, Pakistan is at 157th number out of 180 countries.
3nd: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Gender equality is considered to be the vital concern in the process of development. Therefore, investment in women's empowerment is the key element in improving the economic, political and social conditions in Pakistan, particularly for Punjab in the context of sustainable development. The experience, insight and knowledge of both men and women are needed for 'development' to be more effective and sustainable. Hence decision making processes, evaluation planning and policy formulation should emphasize on mainstreaming gender equality around Pakistan.
Gender Disparity in Pakistan:
There is great difference in the rates of enrollment of boys, as compared to girls in Pakistan. According to UNESCO figures, primary school enrolment for girls stands at 60% as compared to 84% for boys. The secondary school enrolment rate stands at a lower rate of 32% for females and 46% males. Regular school attendance for female students is estimated at 41% while that for male students is 50%. However, in recent years some progress has been made in trying to fix this problem.
However, the gender disparity is affected by the Taliban enforcement of a complete ban on female education in the Swat district. Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls have been shut down. "More than 170 schools have been bombed or torched, along with other government-owned buildings."
Challenges and Constraints
The quality of life of women in Pakistan has improved in the recent decade in terms of access to education and health services, and women’s participation in the economic and political sphere. Despite all the improvements, large gender inequalities persist with mainstreaming the gender concerns in the overall planning, implementation and sectoral programming framework for improving women’s status.
Factors Responsible
The main factors responsible for low literacy rate are poverty, domestic and farming responsibilities, low access to schools, early marriages and socio-cultural factors.
The gender gap in labor force participation rate remains very high with over 78% of women of productive age excluded from the labor force. In the labor market, labor education, social cultural norms, constraints on women’s mobility are limiting women’s employment opportunities. The achievement of MDG”s requires specific reduction in the above mentioned gender gaps.
Initiatives
Ø Child friendly schools (CSF)
Ø Schools nearer to the residence
Ø Effective implementation of laws protecting women’s rights/ land acquisition, protection against violence, and a fair deal in marital contract)
Gender discrimination persists not only in terms of women’s entry but also in terms of access to paid work, occupational level and the wage rate. The gender discrimination rate increased 8.07 from the year 1990-91 to 10.64 in 2008-09.
Achievements
The Government of Pakistan has enacted the working women (protection of Rights) act, 2008, Act for the Protection of Home Based Workers social Protection act-2008. Protection against Harassment of Women in Work Place Act-2010 and the Protection of Domestic Violence Act-2008.
· Supporting Skills and Micro Enterprise Development
· Patti Development Project
· Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN) a rural enterprise modernization project
· Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Punjab.
The Millennium Development Goal target of Gender Parity Index (GPI) in primary and secondary education was missed by Pakistan in 2005. The GPI was 0.51 in 1990-91 to 0.68 in 2004-05 and 0.78 in 2007-08. The progress on this indicator is slow and it is possible that the MDG target of gender parity in primary education may not be achieved by 2015. Similarly the progress with respect to the MDG targets youth literacy GPI and the own share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector, Pakistan is making slow progress; therefore achievement of this target is unlikely.
4th: Reduce Child Mortality Rates:
Child mortality is considered to be one of the most telling summary indicators of the country’s development. The incidence of child mortality in a country is indicative not only of the medical and health care facilities available for the mother and child but also about society’s concern for the future generation. The two main indicators of child mortality rate are child (under 5-years) mortality and infant mortality. Currently for both theses measures Pakistan stands among the worst performers.
This goal focuses on six key indicators:
1) Under five-mortality rate
2) Infant mortality rate
3) Proportion of fully immunized children 12-23 months,
4) Proportion of 1 year children immunized against measles,
5) Proportion of children under-5 who have suffered from diarrhea
6) Lady health workers coverage of target population.
Some of the major results from this goal are as follows:
· The under five-mortality rate has declined moderately from 117 per thousand live births in 1990-91 to 94 deaths for every thousand live births in 2006-07.
· There has been declined in the infant mortality rate from 102 to 75 per thousand live births between 1990-2007; however it seems to be stagnant during the period 2001-07.
· The data relating to the proportion of fully immunized children 12-23 months immunized against six preventable diseases shows improvement to 78% in 2008-09 from 53% in 2001-02. These results are not very impressive and there is an urgent need to speed up the process.
· For many years since its launch, The Lady Health Workers (LHW’s) programme has been considered to be one of the most successful programmes in Pakistan’s health sector.
Policies and Programmes
· The Expanded Programmes on Immunization (EPI) aims at protecting children by immunizing them against 7 diseases.
· The Lady Health Workers Programmes (LHW)
· The Maternal/Neonatal and Child Health programme (MNCH)has been launched in order to improve MCH services for all, particularly the poor and the disadvantaged at all levels in the health care delivery system.
· Micro Nutrient Deficiency Control Programme address Micronutrient deficiencies i.e iodine, iron and vitamin A.
Challenges and Constraints
The slow progress in improving child health outcomes can be attributed to contributing factors both external and internal to the health sector. External factors largely includes causes implicit in the social determinants of health; these include illiteracy, unemployment, greater inequality, social exclusion, lack of access to safe drinking water and inadequate sanitation and food insecurity; the stresses of urbanization and a range of environmental determinants of health add to these challenges. Moreover, the recent fiscal crisis and economic slowdown have also had their fair share in affecting the health and other social sectors with the PSDP allocation having to be reduced in 2009-10.
The target for the proportion of children under five years suffering from diarrhea was achieved in 2007-08 ahead of time. Similarly the coverage of LHWs increased from 38 percent in 2001-02 to 83% in 2008-09 in the first nine years of MDG’s. Out of the six indicators for Goal of reducing Child Mortality, Pakistan’s performance in achieving the desired MDG targets by 2015 is unsatisfactory particularly in case of the first two indicators i.e. the under five mortality rate and infant mortality rate. Though Pakistan has managed to lower the under five mortality rate, there is still a need to reduce it by 42 percentage points by 2015, a highly improbable outcome.
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
This goal focuses on:
(a) Reduce by three quarters between 1990-2015
(b) Achieve universal access to productive health by 2015
Maternal mortality is a serious cause for concern in developing countries. The Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (PDHS) 2006-07 reported a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 276/1000000 LB. The MMR in rural areas at 319/1000000 of live births was almost double to that of 175/1000000 LB in urban areas. An estimated 22.9% of deaths in rural women of reproductive age are due to pregnancy and child birth related complications as compared to 14% among women.
Progress towards Goal 5:
The situation of maternal mortality has improved during last few years; Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) has declined substantially to 276 deaths per 100000 live births (LB) in 2006-07 from 400 in 2004-05. This decline has reversed the rising trend in this indicator. In fact, the MDTF target for the indicator of 300 maternal deaths per 100000 live births in 2009-10 has been exceeded. However, in order to achieve the MDG target of 140 per 100000 live births will be challenging and require immense resources and efforts.
New Initiatives:
Under the frame work of the Health Policy 2009, the health sector will specially focus on the provision of Family Planning (FP) services through the Healthcare network and community based workers, by:
I. Ensuring financing and provision of at least three modern contraceptive methods and skilled manpower in all health outlets of the Departments of Health (DOH) over next three years;
II. Strengthening the provision of FP services and products through the LHWs at the doorstep of the community, especially in rural areas and exploring use of social marketing techniques;
The latest available data shows the maternal mortality ratio has fallen to 276 per 100000 in 2006-07 from 350 in 2001-02 but the MDG target of reducing MMR to 140 for 2015 still requires almost a halving of the latest maternal mortality ratio. In terms of family planning indicators, the prevalence rate of contraceptive methods was estimated 30.8% in 2008-09 which is considerably short of the 2015 MDG target. It is clear that many of the specific targets for Goal 5 will not be met in the immediate future, and it will be challenging to meet the targets in 2015 unless herculean efforts are made to do so.
6th: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases:
Pakistan is in the middle of an epidemiological transition where almost 40 percent of the total burden of diseases (BOD) is accounted for infectious/communicable diseases. These include diarrheal diseases, ARI, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B &C, HIV/AIDS and childhood diseases. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the general population is still less than 1 percent of the population and Pakistan is therefore, considered a low prevalence country. Malaria, hepatitis, and tuberculosis continue be an endemic disease in large areas of the country.
New Initiative
The National Health Policy of Pakistan of 2009 seeks to improve the health indicators of the country. It aims to do so by delivering a set of basic health services for all by improving health manpower, gathering and using reliable health information to guide program effectiveness and design, and strategic use of emerging technology. Several programs are under way with major thrust to improve health care, coverage and to help in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Special attention is being given to the training of nurses and several training centres are already in operation. The achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a priority area for Pakistan, especially in the health sector. Pakistan is committed to meeting these goals by 2015 by launching new policy initiatives. In addition, plans have been formulated to combat TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis, along with other communicable diseases.
HIV/AIDS
The indicators for measuring progress on target include HIV prevalence among 15-24 years old pregnant women and HIV prevalence amongst vulnerable groups. Although in Pakistan the burden of this disease hasn’t been very significant but HIV epidemic is expanding particularly among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) and sex workers. Since 1987 over 4000 cases have been registered.
No comprehensive has been conducted yet but studies tell that HIV prevalence may 15-24 year old pregnant women are reported to be still less than 0.1%. Among other factors that have been contributed in spread of HIV all low level of literacy and education, large number of migrants and refugees and vulnerability due to social and economic shortcomings.
Physical Targets and Achievements during 2009‐10
The heath sector performance in terms of physical infrastructure i.e. Rural Health Centre’s, (RHC) Basic Health Units (BHU) and hospital beds has been encouraging. The targets for health sector during 2009‐10 included the establishment of 50 Basic Health Units (BHUs), 10 Rural Health Centers (RHCs), up‐ gradation of 20 existing Rural Health Centre’s (RHCs), 50 Basic Health Units (BHUs) and addition of 5000 hospital beds. The achievements have been largely in vicinity of the targets.
Health Programs
Public health intervention includes a number of programmes which are federally led with provincial implementation arms. These include the National programme of TB control, Malaria and HIV./Aids
a) Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)
b) AIDS Control Programme:
In Pakistan, the trend of HIV epidemic has shifted from a low‐prevalence state to concentrated state which is derived from the fact that HIV prevalence in some of the high risk groups has been found to be more than 5% and existing behavior patterns signify it to be a high risk situation. Based on the surveillance data and epidemiological modeling, the NACP has estimated that there are about 97,400 HIV positive people, approximately 0.1% of the total adult population. The Government of Pakistan expanded its response to HIV/AIDS by translating the strategic plan into action through the Enhanced HIV/AIDS Programme (2003‐09) with assistance of the World Bank at a cost of Rs. 2.85 billion
Significant Achievements of the Programme during the year include:
· Service delivery projects for high risk groups in the provinces covering almost 20% of the target population.
· Coordination with the UN system, international and bilateral donors
· Operationalization of 20 treatment centres for HIV patients in Federal area and Provinces, providing free of cost treatment of opportunistic infections and ARVs to 1300 patients.
· Revival of German funded Safe Blood Transfusion project.
· Revision of national HIV estimates and projections using modeling with UNAIDS support.
· Ongoing HIV second generation surveillance among FSWs in six major cities of Punjab, and Sindh with UNAIDS collaboration for MDG reporting.
· Operationalization of National Monitoring & Evaluation framework for HIV response.
c) National Program for malaria control
d) National T.B. control programme (NTCP)
7th : Ensure environmental sustainability
Introduction
Like other developing countries, environmental degradation in Pakistan is intrinsically linked to poverty because of the overwhelming dependence of the poor on natural resources for their livelihoods; be it agriculture, forestry, fisheries, hunting etc. poverty combined with burgeoning population and rapid urbanization, is leading to intense pressure on the environment, which further aggravated poverty.
Strategic environmental assessment in developing planning processes is therefore, a pre-requisite for the integration of the environment at a policy, planning and programme level in different sectors.
Goal 7 calls for environmental sustainability. It consists of three targets focusing upon:
a) Integration of principles of sustainable development into qualities and progtammes
b) Halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation; and
c) To achieve significant improvement in the life of slum dwellers.
Environment challenges and issues of Pakistan are associated primarily with an imbalanced social and economic development in recent decades. This challenge is further compounded with rapid urbanization due to a shift of population from rural to urban areas. Thus, all major cities of Pakistan face haphazard, unplanned expansion leading to increase in pollution.
A number of indicators have been chosen to monitor the progress towards achieving these targets. Pakistan seems to be moving towards achieving some of the indiactors, including the proportion of land area protected for the conservation of wildlife, GDP per unit of energy and the number of vehicles using CNG (already ahead of MDG target).
However it lags behind considerably in terms of the three equity based indicators chosen for this goal. Thus, the percentage of the proportion of population with access to safe water sources stood at 65% during the period 2004-05 to 2008-09 while the MDG target for 2015 is 95%.. The percentage of population with access to sanitation improved during the period but didn’t exceed 63% till 2008-09 while the MDG target for this indicator is 90% access by 2015.
Challenges and Constraints
Under the present scenario, the managers of Pakistan’s major urban centres are facing rising difficulties in developing their management plans to provide adequate water and sanitation facilities and health services to ensure a healthy living environment. The Mid‐Term Development Framework: 2005‐2010 (MTDF 2005‐10) of the Planning Commission has been developed in line with the National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) objectives, and focuses on four core areas i.e., clean air, clean water; solid waste management, and Ecosystem management. The Plan has been prepared keeping in mind Pakistan’s experience with such initiatives in the last decade; the current capacity to undertake planning, implementation and oversight and the identified needs for improvement in such capacity. The MTDF clearly specifies issues in environment which need to be addressed.
This is one of those goals where there has been some success and it seems possible that some of the MDG targets will be met. Importantly, Goal 7 is not too dependent on fiscal spending as are the other goals, and hence with greater and more appropriate legislation, at low cost, some new interventions can be made which will help in meeting the 2015 MDG targets.
Programmes and Policies
The Government of Pakistan has made a considerable increase in budgetary allocation for environmental projects in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP); overall Rs. 6 billion has been allocated in the Federal (PSDP) 2009-10 for environmental projects. There are about 55 projects under implementation which fall in the brown, green and capacity building components/subsectors of the environment such as:
Mass awareness, environment education and environment protection, protected area management, forestry, biodiversity, watershed management etc. Rs. 2.7 billion gas been allocated for the Clean Drinking Water for All Programme. For forestry, biodiversity, watershed and water bodies project Rs. 1.8 billion have been allocated. The Government of Pakistan declared 2009 as the National Year of the Environment. Achieving MDG target is an uphill task and is heavily dependent on the availability of resources, political will, and rigorous first track collaborative efforts. However keeping in view the trend it can easily be deducted that it will not be possible to achieve the Goal 7.
8th-Global Partnership for Development:
This is the only goal which depends on not so much what Pakistani government can do, but what global community can do for and with Pakistan.
Official development assistance comprises grants or loans to developing countries or territories on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/ Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC) list of aid recipients that were undertaken by the official sector with promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective and at concessional financial terms (if a loan having a grant element of at least 25 percent). Technical cooperation is also included.
This goal focuses on:
· Market access
· External debt sustainability
· Access to affordable essential medicines
· Access to new technology
Goal 8 establishes a link between domestic and global policies to achieve the MDGs which are a shared responsibility of the world community with individual developing countries. Pakistan is not fully benefitting from globalization and linkages with the rest of the world could gain considerably by working towards achieving some of the targets related to this MDG. Goal 8 can open door to allow for many of the other goals also being achieved.
Pakistan’s location both in terms of geography and development, has become and can remain, a focal point for help and assistance to achieve of all seven of its MDGs through progress in the eighth goal, which includes greater market access, development assistance and greater connectivity.
Market access:
Develop further an open, rule based, predictable, non discriminatory, trading and financial system (including) a commitment to good governance, development and Poverty reduction both nationally and internationally.
Pakistan’s share in the global market, according to WTO data has declined by more than 1/3 to 0.13% in 2009 from 0.21% in 1999. The share of non textile manufactured exports in Pakistan has gone down from an already low figure of US $ 5.83 billion to US $ 3.12 billion in 2008-09.
External Debt Sustainability:
A major concern in Pakistan is the pressure of external debt, which makes it even more difficult to achieve domestic goals set out under MDGs. Pakistan’s external debt consisting largely of public and publically guaranteed debt had stabilized to a large extent in the early 2000 to below $ 30 billion. Since 2004, external debt rose to $35.9 billion in FY 2006. The largest debt increased since 2000 occurred at the end of 2007-08, when it rose to US $6.6 billion or 14.3%. The total external debt and liabilities have reached to a staggering some of US $55.1 billion according to the provisional data for the first quarter of FY 2009-10 despite its reduction by US $515 billion as a result of the repayment of Sakuk Bond made in 2009. With foreign debt and liabilities eating into Pakistan’s foreign exchange resources and leaving little for development, for greater effort will have to be made towards sagacious use of foreign aid and loans, more carefully and purposefully. While foreign borrowings can be used for budgetary support and for productive purposes, there is also the danger of falling into a huge debt trap.
Challenges and Constraints
Donors are willing to support many of the initiatives outlined in Goals 1-7. Clearly while overseas development assistance will be forthcoming to Pakistan, the Government will have to ensure that this aid is put to better use and is more effective.
Pakistan Exports have been supply-constrained due to lack of diversification. Pakistan needs to diversify its exports moving in to high value added products with a high skill component.
To achieve this goal Pakistan need s to redouble its efforts to catch-up with other neighboring countries and with the rest of the world, such as India, to access the benefits of globalization through Information Technology, software development and outsourcing development. For this it needs to make considerable investments in education, infrastructure and R&D facilities to attract foreign direct investment in theses fields.
