ISLAMABAD-Economists in the world today were contesting globalisation and viewing it as plunder of the third world countries which have been developed in the condition where their productive capacity has become limited for few rich people, said an economist on Tuesday, speakers said during a lecture.
Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) arranged a lecture under the title of “Challenges Faced by the Developing Countries and Our Response” where eminent economist Professor Dr Shahida Wizarat addressed the participants.
The lecture was part of a series on the theme of “Pakistan Economy in a Transforming Global Economic Order”.
Dr Wizarat lamented that Transnational Corporations (TNCs) instead of third world governments were dictating third world development, with the latter unable to direct foreign investment towards the needs of their citizens and prevent actions that hurt their national interests.
She told the audience that developed countries exporting GM food to developing countries have very strict laws about the consumption of these food products in their own countries.
She criticized the recent amendment in ‘Pakistan Seed Act’ to facilitate GMOs and termed it as a legislative disaster that will have severe effects on the textile sector and food security of the country.
The second biggest challenge, according to Dr Wizarat, the developing countries were faced with was widespread and endemic conflict and militarization.
Countries across Asia, Africa, Middle East, etc, were engaged in sectarian, ethnic and ideological conflicts.
Quoting her own study of 2014, she claimed that one per cent increase in world conflict increases GDP of developed countries by 7.7 per cent, while resulting in decline in developing countries’ GDP by 3.8 per cent.
The third challenge described by her was on account of limits to growth theory. Quoting Jeffry Sachs, a leading US economist, she said that it would not be sustainable if the developed countries continue to grow at their long-term per capita rate of 1.6 per cent, while the countries in Asia and other parts of the world continue to grow at their spectacular rates resulting in four to six fold increases in world’s GNP.