Pakistani Voters Focus on Struggling Economy
April 23,2013
As Pakistan prepares for national elections next month, the new government’s plans for reviving the fragile economy are for many a higher priority than addressing militant violence. Given the economic track record of the last administration, few are hopeful for change.
Zafar Saeed runs a vocational training center in a low-income neighborhood of the Pakistani capital. For more than a decade, his institution has trained thousands for work in an increasingly difficult economy. Now as his own business struggles from power cuts and inflation, Saeed blames the government for the situation.
"Our organization has suffered major financial losses particularly over the past five years because prolonged power outages have not allowed us to perform our activities. The other main reason is inflation because people can no longer afford to pay for their fees to learn income-generating skills," said Saeed.
Lacking political will
Many share Saeed’s view. Street protests against chronic power outages are routine in Pakistan, where power cuts can now last an entire day.
Ashfaque Hassan Khan, a professor at Islamabad’s NUST Business School, said, "We are facing economic challenges and the reason for this is that for five years the economy has never been on the radar of the government."
Khan said part of the problem has been too little political will to fix the national tax system.
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