QUITE a fiscal year 2007-8 was. Though this was but expected. The two Junes contained between them what could arguably stake a claim at being one of the most turbulent years in our history. Few were the days that went by without a suicide bombing, eyebrows refusing to rise at a body count of less than 15. September led to a terrible bombing at a PPP rally, the year's largest (both the rally and the death toll). December's bomb and targeted killing incident in Rawalpindi tragically killed the PPP's iconic Chairperson. Other parties were not spared; the ANP lost over 70 of its own in a series of suicide blasts as well. And these were just the political parties; the number of random bombings exceeded them by far. A tremendous human loss it was, say the penny counters, but why talk of these in a discussion on the fiscal year? To state the obvious, all this did not lead to an atmosphere conducive to business or foreign investment. Foreign Direct Investment showed a decline of 16.7 percent this fiscal, as shown by the Economic Survey of Pakistan, which was released yesterday. Though the incessant, relentless march of inflation has always been a ubiquitous element in Third World economies, this was one of the years that this silent killer was attracting as much public wrath as in-your-face, dramatic travesties like suicide bombings. With food inflation at a whopping 25 percent, this was but natural. The increase in our average per capita income, from $925 to $1085, was too paltry to match the gigantic increases in food prices. Specially since this increase was not too evenly brought about: food inflation hits the poor the worst, and the poor did not get too large a share of the income and wealth increases. The trade deficit, which stood at an imperious $18 billion, would lead to further pressures on the currency value front. Give in to these, a lot of exporters would urge, and let's get the rupee to its "natural" value. Something that could be looked into but we would have to brace ourselves for yet more inflation if it were to be followed up. Revenue collection was not exactly on the mark. Our tax revenue-to-GDP ratio stood at 9.5 percent. There is an immense need for tax reforms in the country, specially considering the average of 18 percent for this same ratio in developing countries. On the fiscal front, where the government insists there was an oil subsidy worth Rs 175 billion given to consumers, things got a little tight. The import of 1.7 million tonnes of wheat, a necessity because of the gross mismanagement of the food markets, also squeezed things. On the monetary front, the policy of tightening the money supply continued, a prudent policy maybe, though the latest increase in interest rates has its share of detractors from the banking sector. Here's hoping to a better year, and the key to most of that might be from what transpires today.