Dr. Rashid Amjad, a renowned economist, writer and teacher delivered a comprehensive lecture on the above topic at National Institute of Management, Lahore.

  1. At the onset, the speaker made inter-country comparison with other South Asian and regional countries on the economic front. He told the participants that, initially, Pakistan performed very well on the economic front. From 1960 to 1990, Pakistan had 6% growth rate followed by India (3%) and Bangladesh. Later, we faced recession and other regional countries started performing better. These countries benefitted from export led growth and by making their economies competitive.
  2. The speaker elaborated three factors that led to our economic decline. The first factor was our Western alliance in their wars twice. Firstly, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was the turning point. We became frontline State as Western ally. Our economy and foreign investment plummeted as a result. Secondly, after 9/11, we were again in a similar situation, subsequently leading to our economic woes despite receiving dollars in payment for our services. He told the participants that these two events changed Pakistan’s standing. The second factor is mismanagement of economy and the third one is poor human development.
  3. He told that our population is growing at the rate of 1.5% and labour force is growing at 3%. So, we need to grow at 6% to meet their the needs. Key emerging/leading sectors that