Pakistan seeks aid for economic woes
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Beleaguered leaders of Pakistan are hoping for up to $6 billion in international support as they attempt to steer the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed nation through a rising storm of extremist violence and economic troubles.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Beleaguered leaders of Pakistan are hoping for up to $6 billion in international support as they attempt to steer the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed nation through a rising storm of extremist violence and economic troubles.
But there are doubts the expected pledges at a donor conference in Japan tomorrow will do more than keep the country afloat for the next few years - or make its huge but ineffective army more inclined to crack down harder on the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
"If money is given, it must be given for very specific projects that actually create economic assets for the country and create a flow of income," said Kaiser Bengali, a prominent Pakistani economist and adviser to the government.
"Funding for budget support is putting money down the drain."
The donor conference will be the first of its kind for Pakistan, reflecting the depth of concern about the country's ability to weather problems fueled by the global economic slowdown as well as the faltering U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said yesterday that the country expects about 25 foreign backers, including the United States, China and Saudi Arabia, to pledge between $4 billion and $6 billion in emergency economic aid.
President Asif Ali Zardari will chair a separate ministerial-level session of the same countries, dubbed "Friends of Democratic Pakistan," which has promised to provide longer-term development and security assistance, including help to build dams, power stations, schools and clinics.
Both tracks are separate from Washington's plans to afford Pakistan $1.5 billion in aid for the next five years, and a $7.6 billion bailout granted by the International Monetary Fund in November to avert the country's most recent balance-of-payments crisis.
But critics also say the government knows only too well that the international community is terrified of the prospect of a breakdown of the Pakistani state, and hence lacks real leverage over its course.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the message of political support from the "Friends" group was even more important than the sums pledged. "Without Pakistan, there is no hope," of defeating extremism in the region, he said yesterday. "Pakistan is a key player. Pakistan is the country that will make the difference."
Officials in Islamabad say the world is morally obliged to help bail out their nation because of the losses it suffers as a front-line state against terrorism. "We want help," Qureshi said. "What we do not want is intrusion or micromanagement."
