Pakistan is sixth largest country in the world in terms of the population, which is estimated to be around 200 million people, but our economy is 43rd largest in world, with the value of 284 billion dollars. This is a very disappointing and appalling situation for us but at same time it an equally puzzling matter as well because when I see my fellow Pakistani citizens working hard abroad as well as in Pakistan, I have always wondered as to why Pakistan, being the 6th largest country in the world by population, is not 6th largest economy in the world?
Generally speaking, most of our people are very intelligent, honest, sincere and hardworking. We have been awarded all the natural resources like access to fertile land, sea, rivers, mountains and minerals by virtue of Pakistan’s geographical location. The combination of honest hardworking manpower and all the other factors of productions which are available to Pakistan should theoretically result in a much higher annual Gross Domestic Product for the country than just 284 billion US dollars. It is really a matter of concern that we lag this far behind in the world on the Gross Domestic Product Index.
We must follow the shining example of China, which is the largest country in the world by population, which accounts to 1.3 billion people, and has become the 2nd largest economy in world scoring a GDP of 11.3 trillion dollars in the year 2016 as per an IMF report. If we measure China's GDP by its purchasing power parity, its GDP works out to be around 21.26 trillion dollars which would make China the largest economy in the world for the year 2016. I believe that the silent and hardworking majority of Pakistan has to raise awareness about this concern at an appropriate forum.
What we need to do is to put everything together and march towards that goal with a conviction that we can achieve our righteous rank in the world's economic table. Our media can play an important role in creating awareness of the country's potential and its political and business leaders should form a joint creditable task force to find out why Pakistan is lagging behind.
EJAZ AHMAD MAGOON,
Lahore, January 23.