This Development Policy Reviewdescribes, and evaluates the Government of Pakistan'spolicies, in six critical areas : governance, investing inpeople, macroeconomic sustainability, the financial sector,the investment climate for the private sector, and,agriculture and irrigation. Governance reforms are aimed ataddressing four major issues: devolution, civil servicereform, reduction of corruption and improvement of financialmanagement, and institutionalizing realistic budgetprocesses. On investing in people, the social gap(reinforced by gender discrepancies) show high illiteracy,and ill-health rates, which limits the possibilities foreconomic growth. To this end, spending commitmentsprioritize on social sectors, and effective servicedelivery. As for macroeconomic sustainability, theunsustainable public debt poses a serious problem,exacerbated by defense spending, which diminishesdevelopment expenditure. This challenges the move of publicdebt dynamics towards improving the investment climate,through increased tax revenue, and limiting defenseexpenditure. The financial sector is dominated by thebanking system, where state-owned institutions play asignificant role, which despite progress, much needs to bedone in strengthening prudential regulations, and capitalmarkets. Concurrently, the unstable investment climaterequires a regulatory framework in terms of taxes, andtariffs. Finally, policy priorities are required toaccelerate agricultural growth on markets, technology, and irrigation.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
