Woman make up over half of the country’s population, but their participation in the economic activities is less than 25 percent and that is the point raised by a World Bank official the other day. According to him, Pakistan lags far behind its peers in the region and it will have to bring more women into the services sector to speed up the process of economic growth.The World Bank has already projected that Pakistan’s economy will grow by 4.5 percent in 2016, which is slightly better than the previous year but misses the government’s ambitious target of 5.5 percent for 2016. However, the bank expects 4.8 percent expansion in the economy during 2017 against an average growth rate of about 7 percent which is projected for the other South Asian nations this year. Pakistan needs to achieve a growth rate of six percent not only to absorb new entrants into the workforce from its growing population, but also establish compatibility with other countries in the region.
The oil prices have nosedived in the international market after decades of disturbing the world economies, especially of the developing countries. The fiscal discipline achieved by the government in recent years as well as collapse in global oil prices have bolstered the country’s economy. However, security risks and inability of the government to introduce much needed structural reforms have not only spur capital flight but also discouraged local and foreign direct investment. Severe energy crisis remained the biggest hurdle in the industrial growth, keeping the local industry under pressure. Despite the tall claims, the government has failed to ensure incessant electricity supply not only to industrial units, but also to domestic consumers. A new syndrome of circular debt is haunting the national economy which has been reportedly accumulated up to $3 billion. The deadline given by the government to end energy shortage is 2018 and it is approaching fast without any visible improvement in the energy supply.
As a matter of fact, the country has the primitive power generation system as it has failed to tap modern sources of alternative energy. The worst part is its power distribution system which is technically flawed as well as inefficient and corrupt at the administrative level. Power theft at the distribution level has so far been allegedly remained unchecked while overpriced electricity pushes some industrial units to operate on the stolen current. The infrastructure used for the power distribution is outdated and substandard. Thousands of electricity units are wasted away during the distribution process and the consumers are made to pay the bills of the lost units. It is hoped that the government will be able to bring the industrial production at a level where women participation will become integral part of the economic activities.
