Pak Govt. appreciates economic policies of Musharraf regime

Islamabad, Jan 16 (ANI): The PPP-led government may have publicly criticized former President Musharraf for the present financial mess, but in its official documents, it has reportedly appreciated the economic policies of the previous regime as they served as a strong base for seeking loans from multilateral donors and friends of Pakistan.

To public, the PPP-led coalition partners have been blaming the Musharraf regime in public speeches for fudging economic figures to paint a rosy picture.The letter of intent (LoI), on the basis of which Pakistan sought the much-needed 7.6 billion dollars bailout package from the International Monitory Fund (IMF), has bit by bit appreciated the policies of the Musharraf regime since 2000. During the past one decade (1999-2007), the LoI says Pakistan's economy witnessed a major economic transformation from substantial increase in the volume of gross domestic product (GDP) to greater international trade.Talking to Dawn, former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed whatever he said about the health of economy was based on the balance sheet existed on March 31, 2008.

He said the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani dully approved the balance sheet.An official source requesting not to be named said the economic wizards in the finance ministry are not politicians to make only speeches but they have to look into ground realities. "We reported to IMF whatever is factual and based on evidence," the official added. The LoI said the country's real GDP increased from 60 billion dollars in 2000-01 to 170 billion dollars in 2007-08 with per capital income rising from under 500 dollars to over 1000 dollars. During the same period, the volume of international trade increased to nearly 60 billion dollars from 20 billion dollars. For most of this period, real GDP grew at more than 7 per cent a year with relative price stability. (ANI)