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 Pakistan's Economic Growth 
 
 CONFIDENCE DEEPENS 
 
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 ...background report 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/pakistanseconomiOOpaki_0 
 
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 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Since last March—and the advent of the new Yahya 
 Administration in Pakistan—the country has been show¬ 
 ered with messages of confidence in the continued eco¬ 
 nomic growth of Pakistan. As the World Bank noted at 
 a Paris consortium meeting in May, 1969, “despite re¬ 
 cent disturbances, the total output [in Pakistan] has 
 increased by nearly 6 per cent and agricultural produc¬ 
 tion by about 5 per cent. Exports were up nearly 10 
 per cent and industrial production more than 8 per 
 cent.” 
 
 This is a measure of the spirited economic develop¬ 
 ment which is steadily propelling the country towards 
 the ultimate goal of a self-sustaining economy. 
 
 In the following pages are a handful of capsule com¬ 
 mentaries on the positive and negative aspects arising 
 out of Pakistan’s admittedly impressive economic stride. 
 
 1 
 
 (Oof CkCC . 
 
Every citizen has a right to a fair share in Pakistan’s 
 economic development, and the objective of develop¬ 
 ment should be a broad increase in the standard of 
 living of all and not the building of a privileged class 
 to the detriment and disadvantage of others. 
 
 President Yahya Khan, at a news 
 conference, April 9, 1969. 
 
 2 
 
In quantitative terms, the development picture in 
 Pakistan is “really remarkable.” 
 
 Nicholas B. Angell, the former 
 Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. 
 aid program in Pakistan, at an 
 Asia Society seminar, New York, 
 
 May 7, 1969. 
 
 3 
 
Pakistan’s development through economic planning 
 should be a useful example in the formulation of eco¬ 
 nomic growth plans in other developing countries. De¬ 
 spite some setbacks in the past, Pakistan’s economy 
 has maintained a “good economic growth rate.” 
 
 Dacca and Karachi Morning News, 
 quoting a news conference by 
 Lester B. Pearson, chairman, the 
 International Commission on Foreign 
 Assistance, Islamabad, April 1, 1969. 
 
 4 
 
“A favorable social climate for family planning ap¬ 
 pears to have been created in Pakistan in a relatively 
 short time.” 
 
 U.N. Office of Public Information, 
 quoting the World Health 
 Organization, May 17, 1969. 
 
 5 
 
Industrial and agricultural output, governmental func¬ 
 tions, education and communications . . . are now back 
 to normal. In the economic sphere it is clear that Paki¬ 
 stan, despite the . . , strains of emergency expenditures, 
 will suffer less than had been expected a few months 
 ago. 
 
 Tillman, Durdin, The New York 
 Times, May 21, 1969. 
 
 6 
 
It is a “naive assumption” that somehow economic 
 growth solves all of a nation’s problems. “We know 
 that isn’t true in our country, why should it be true in 
 a country like Pakistan?” 
 
 Professor Mark Leiserson, director, 
 Pakistan Project, Yale University, at 
 an Asia Society seminar. New York, 
 May 7, 1969. 
 
 7 
 
The World Bank announced today that following 
 today’s meeting in Paris, the members of the Aid-to- 
 Pakistan Consortium concurred that in the coming year 
 Pakistan could effectively use external aid, on suitable 
 terms from Consortium members, totaling $500 million. 
 
 Dacca and Karachi Morning News, 
 May 21, 1969. In a dispatch from 
 Paris. 
 
 8 
 
The attainment by Pakistan of self-sufficiency in 
 wheat, rice and other food grains during the last year 
 has appreciably improved the nation’s economic pros¬ 
 pects. 
 
 ... The strongest pledge of assistance in years came 
 in Paris last week from countries making up the Paki¬ 
 stan foreign aid consortium. 
 
 The New York Times, May 24, 1969. 
 
 9 
 
“Pakistan, in its financial year of June-1967/July 
 1968, achieved remarkable agricultural successes. In 
 dustry also expanded by ten per cent.” 
 
 U.N. Economic Survey of Asia and 
 the Far East, released at New York, 
 April 9, 1969. 
 
 10 
 
An expansion of the natural gas pipelines system in 
 northwest Pakistan will be assisted by an $8 million 
 World Bank Loan to assure a large supply of gas— 
 30 million cubic feet daily—to be used mainly as a 
 raw material for the urea fertilizer plant now under 
 construction near Lahore. 
 
 International Bank for Reconstruction 
 and Development, announcement, 
 
 May 7, 1969. 
 
 11 
 
Pakistan, in fact, has changed its policies toward a 
 greater [participation by] the little men, both in agri¬ 
 culture and industry. 
 
 Professor Gustav Ranis, Director of 
 the Economic Growth Center, Yale 
 University, at an Asia Society seminar, 
 New York, May 7, 1969. 
 
 12 
 
The United States has loaned Pakistan $25 million 
 for the purchase of fertilizers “to help attain our ambi¬ 
 tious target in the field of agriculture for the next annual 
 Plan period.” 
 
 M. M. Ahmed, Deputy Chairman, 
 Pakistan Planning Commission, at a 
 news conference. May 23, 1969. 
 
 13 
 
The economy of Pakistan was bolstered today by 
 news that the World Bank has approved a $40 million 
 loan, the largest in the nation’s history . . . The World 
 Bank decision is regarded here as an expression of 
 confidence [in] Pakistan . . . 
 
 The Washington Post, 
 
 March 19, 1969. 
 
 14 
 
Pakistan’s economic progress is as “impressive as any 
 in the world.” 
 
 President Nixon in a message to 
 President Yahya, May 25, 1969. 
 
 15 
 
General Yahya has inherited an economy which 
 would turn any civilian government in the world green 
 with envy. 
 
 The Economist, London, 
 April 5-11, 1969. 
 
 16 
 

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PAKISTAN EMBASSY 
 Washington, D. C.