Pakistan needs some serious reforms. The track it is on right now is good but it won’t make it the “Asian Tiger”. Pakistan largely relies on its textile industry. India is in a much better state. India’s economy depends on its IT growth, which is a much more reliable industry than Pakistan’s. Pakistan should first reform their government and semi-government schools. Instead of having the students taught the British curriculum, Pakistani students should be taught the easier and more effective American curriculum. Pakistan should open up universities that are excellent not just in Pakistan or Asia, but the whole world. Pakistan should spend a larger percent of its GDP in education so that the coming generations will be able to match Pakistan to the standards of the “Asian Tigers”. Really guys, right now, if India can compare itself to China, Pakistan can sadly only compare itself to Iran or Bangladesh. It’s true. Doesn’t matter if India has more people homeless and more people illiterate and more people with AIDS and more people with a pathetic life style than Pakistan. Since, the fact is that Pakistan has a higher PERCENTAGE of those people in its population (excluding AIDS). This means that India is even doing better in the life style sector. Pakistani cities need a makeover. Karachi’s new areas are cool, but the city itself is a wreck…really, it was voted as one of the worst cities in the world!

shutup....no one wants to hear your opinion. go back to your cave you neanderthal.

HUH BHANGEE'S THESE DAYS India cant compare itself with China. India should be comparing itself with Africa like which Nation has more AID infested people,Which nation has a higher percent of Poor people,Which nation has a higher percentage of Toilets available and the list goes on...

Right know if you havnt noticed Pakistan's economy is booming faster than Bhindia's,that Includes IT,Textile,Buisness etc...Yeah you got to admit Indians are so smart just look at there Indigonous military equipment,the Arjun,LCA,INSAS,and a repaint of the Russian Yakhont.

guys !! i m not an indian .... u know its more stable than pak... we shud LEARN from the indians

Indian economy is not IT dependent that is a misconception, they have had a 100 year plus head start when compared to Pakistan. Infact for a country that rolled out the first automative bus (Leyland by the British in Bombay) and a locomotive engine a 150 years ago (under the British) and Large Industries built under concessions of the British... Tata etc.. It isn't all that impressive now is it ? I think they are atleast 50 years behind (with the little progress that they have made!!)

Having said that, we do need to add on other sectors, but textiles is an industry that is the back bone of our economy and is an area of expertise. The high levels of growth in the economy is also because of the growth in the textiles sector (import of new machinery and increases exports), another industry which is witnessing growth in Pakistan is Financial Services, I for see more investments coming in.

We do need to invest in education and education. And the most important thing of all no matter what happens on the political scenarios, we need to stick to the economic plan that is in place.

Pharmaceuticals and high technology have also seen growths. Pakistan is also making moves in manufacturing which provides a stable platform to build upon as well.

Good post, many seem to forget the vast industrial heartlands India had at the time of its independence. Pakistan on the other hand had a token administrative capital and faced a huge famine...

You've put forward some good suggestions. But you forgot to mention - How do we pay for all these 'reforms' ?

Revamping Karachi, and other major cities alone could take billions of dollars.

All in all the Pakistani government should take a whole different step and makeover the whole economy budget.
Get people working = More money to the people = more money to the state.
Get rid of corruption = better develeopment, without further costs ;)
Maybe rethink if the military budget isnt just a bit too big, because it indeed is.
Better educations.
Better facilities = More attractive to Large multinational companys = more money to the state = better conditions to the people.
Better Diplomatic stand (More trading) with India and the rest of Europe would also give a better economy.

Useless military equipment or should the government, Give the people better oportunities, Education, social help etc. Better hospital facitilities better school facilities and the government would make more money which would mean that Pakistan would develeop MUCH more htan it is doing righ now.
I mean, India wouldnt attack Pakistan now, Pakistan helped USA in battles, and US would most likely stop a war with India. And by the way, both countries got Nuclear technology so it would be stupid of them to go to war.

The share of telecom sector in the GDP is expected to increase from 1.7 per cent 2003 to 3 per cent in the next five years, when new operators would launch their networks in the country. Previously, this share was 1.5 percent in the year 1999-2000.

Pakistan is expecting a foreign direct investment (FDI) of $5 to 8 billion in fixed-line telephony and mobile sector within next 3 years with an estimated 370,000 direct as well as indirect job opportunities.

The telecom sector has been declared a priority area for employment creation and poverty elevation by the government. The PTA has so far issued 178 licenses for various telecom services. By issuing new licenses in the telecom sector, the indirect employment opportunities would be provided through franchises, vendors and distributors of the telecom companies.

Realizing the importance, during the last 3 to 4 years, the government approved about 200 projects for IT and Telecom sector. These projects involve millions of rupees, which have been provided by the Government for the uplift of IT infrastructure in the country. Government of Pakistan has extended very liberal fiscal and monetary incentives for software exports.

Govt has identified number of challenges to make Pakistan more stronger. Some of these challenges are listed below:

1. Diversification of export

2. Development of human resources: Investment in higher education, science and research, vocational and technical education, female education thus should be the highest priority for the next ten years.

3. Investment in infrastructure: Remove bottlenecks, shortages, disruptions and breakdown in supplies, in power, gas, oil pipelines, ports, railways, and congestion in roads and highways will be a proprity.

4. Regional hub: Another reason for large investment in physical infrastructure is to exploit the potential of Pakistan’s strategic location as a regional hub for the Middle East, Central Asia and Western China and South Asia. Gwadar port is being developed to take advantage of this potential.

5. Productivity increase in agriculture and industry

6. Judicial and legal reforms

7. Widening the tax base

No other area is as promising in its potential as information Technology. IT is a key to success of future growth. This technology has emerged as the fastest growing sector in Pakistan too. During the last 10 years, Pakistan has been developing IT human resource and necessary infrastructure to cope with the rapidly advancing IT world. Now the IT industry is in the take off stage and is catching up with the regional and global industry.

you actually agree with what this maggot was saying? pakistan has way less issues than india does. thats for sure. india's hype is a bit overexaggerated. and as was posted earlier, if you consider the fact that many of their industries pre-date to the time of the british rule, the indians have really not done much for most of their history, except for the process they started some 10 years ago of opening up their economy. prior to that india was the biggest sh## hole in south asia. it still is. hahahaha....

well this man has some intresting points, i dnt care if he is either indian r nt but he is right. we need to spend a lot of money to restructure our education system. our education system is horrible.

True india was the ##### but it isnt now...recently Intel decided to invest in India, Not PAK because....we dont have enough infrastructure, and IT background to impress Intel. True india got a head start, doesnt mean that all our lives we give that reasoning in order to explain our horrible state. its true we are changing, and things ARE getting better, but corruption is still there. the creek apartments are being sold to army ppl for a really cheap price... same might happen with gwadar... what's the good then? we r just setting a false image ... until we dont have a SOLID economy we wont get anywhere, there is no point in building the creek apartments, because it doesnt represent the whole pak community, since most of us cant even afford those apartments. If pak is gonna liv wit the reasoning o india is ahead cause of the british, then pak will never beat india.

1. Diversification of export

2. Development of human resources: Investment in higher education, science and research, vocational and technical education, female education thus should be the highest priority for the next ten years.

3. Investment in infrastructure: Remove bottlenecks, shortages, disruptions and breakdown in supplies, in power, gas, oil pipelines, ports, railways, and congestion in roads and highways will be a proprity.

4. Regional hub: Another reason for large investment in physical infrastructure is to exploit the potential of Pakistan’s strategic location as a regional hub for the Middle East, Central Asia and Western China and South Asia. Gwadar port is being developed to take advantage of this potential.

5. Productivity increase in agriculture and industry

6. Judicial and legal reforms

7. Widening the tax base

Excellent points to build upon. Now we just need the will to implement them....I hope the present government goes head strong into this.

alright listen nigger. american investors who come to pakistan almost ALWAYS agree that the pakistani infrastructure is much better than india's. just visit lahore and islamabad and tell me if theres one city thats comparable to either of those two in india? theres not. even bangalore is falling apart, as was evident in the recent floods there. the entire city flooded. as for corruption, our sitting ministers dont take kickbacks on oil for food programs (ahem ahem natwar singh). secondly, transparency international, the authority on corruption, itself has stated that upper level corruption within pakistan and its government is at an all time low. thirdly, you dont know anything about creek city and gwadar. the army is not getting any of them. go read a book and then come back and post here you ape. worry about your own country man. we dont want you worrying about ours. your country has a rabid and AIDS infested population that the UN has said will outpace south africa's in the next ten years. you think you're gonna be successful when people cant go to work cuz they have AIDS? i dont think so. anymore stupid posts from you and i'm reporting your sorry ass.

hey wise...how u doing? i m not an indian...i live in phase-4, dha, karachi, currently in toronto...the point is just recently Intel and Microsoft invested billions of dollars in india. and why not pak!? u say that we have so much infrastructure, then why not us. why werent we the lucky ones to have billions of dollars flowing in our reserves.. think abt it.. dont be arrogant. i love pakistan ..besides u r the only sorry ass who is being offensive.. every1 else is contributing without being so offensive. u gotta learn from ur enemies to beat them

We have clear idea about Pakistan's economy to be in the year 2015. We have set various targets that include increase of per capita income by the year 2010 (i.e. from the current level of $736 to $1500), in other word, the country will graduate from a low income to middle income country by the year 2010 since we will acheieve $1000 goal.

In order to achieve this target the real GDP must grow at an average rate of 7.4 percent per annum, population to grow at an average rate of 2.1 percent thereby raising per capita income at the rate of 5.2 percent per annum, saving rate must average 23.0 percent of GDP, investment must average 26.0 percent of GDP, hence foreign saving must average 3.0 percent of GDP, export-to-GDP ratio must increase from the current level of 17.5 percent to about 25.0 percent, this calls for an annual average growth rate of 9.0 percent in the export. Manufacturing sector must play the leading role in achieving the growth target, therefore, the share of this sector in GDP must increase from its current level of 15.0 percent to about 22.0 percent, in other word, manufacturing must grow at an average rate of 9.0 percent per annum.

The rise in agricultural output, despite the below target performance by both livestock and minor crops particularly serves to highlight the tremendous growth potential of the sector, given support through infrastructural investment, institutional development, appropriate pricing policies and a modicum of good fortune.

Similarly, the robust growth of industry, despite capacity constraints in key industries and a high-base effect, speaks volumes of the impact of pro-business policies on generating domestic demand and maintaining the competitiveness of exports (particularly for textiles).

In the same vein, the strong services sector growth in 2005, reflects not only the exceptional strength of the commodity producing sectors, but also the benign impact of deregulation, liberal investment policies, stability in macroeconomic indicators, and policy continuity. All of these probably also contributed to a significant increase in FDI into the sector.

At the broader level this performance is very welcome indeed, but a closer look at some of the macroeconomic variables and each of the commodity-producing sectors also reveals niggling issues that need to be addressed expeditiously if the long-term growth trajectory is to be sustained.

As far as IT Sector concern, read the article below.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/44762.html