Pakistan has been described as the "most surprising economic success story," by prestigious Newsweek magazine as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the publication the government will continue the reforms to sustain its phenomenal economic growth and face the challenges of globalisation head-on.
In its latest issue, Newsweek talked to the prime minister on the country's expanding economy and also published a two-page article titled "Promise in Pakistan" to explain how the country, that was once isolated internationally and in the grip of deep recession, made a turnaround in the last six years.
The publication introduced the prime minister as a veteran of international banking, who, it added, has been the architect of Pakistan's remarkable economic recovery ever since he joined President Pervez Musharraf's government in 1999.
In his interview to the magazine, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that Pakistan's precarious financial situation - high fiscal deficits and debt levels, no money to pay next month's oil import bill, etc - prompted the government to start an aggressive reform agenda six years ago.
"So we started ensuring fiscal discipline, containing expenditures and increasing income. We focused on investment and growth. We bit many bullets to restore credibility. The fundamentals of reform were deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation," he added.
The prime minister said foreign investors' interest in Pakistan today was very strong and this year foreign investment would be the highest in Pakistan's history, at close to three billion dollars.
"There are opportunities in agribusiness, Information Technology, telecom, software, hotels, engineering goods and infrastructure. We see Pakistan as a hub for many multinationals," he added.
The report "Promise in Pakistan" began with a Lahore-based Iqbal Ahmed, who was a depressed businessman in late 1990s with his modest, liquefied-petroleum gas operation didn't seem to be going anywhere.
"I used to get up and say, 'What the hell, it's another day'," he recalls. "Now I can't wait for the day to begin. I see a very bright future."
Ahmed has good reason to be optimistic. Two years ago he signed a deal with Houston's Hanover Energy Co that has helped transform his LPG extraction plant into the largest and most efficient in Pakistan, with revenues last year of 130 million dollars.
Backed by several international investors, Ahmed has bid some 400 million dollars to buy a controlling interest in Southern Sui Gas, one of two state-owned gas production and distribution companies that are being privatised.
And he recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Excelerate Energy of Houston to import liquefied natural gas into Pakistan in supertankers.
"We're enjoying a sea change in economic conditions and opportunities," Ahmed, 60, told the Newsweek. "Pakistan is open for business."
The report cites Pakistan's impressive macroeconomic indicators to highlight the growing business environment in the country.
Last year, the country's Gross Domestic Product growth rate hit 8.4 percent, the world's second highest behind China, following two years of solid six percent growth. This year the economy is predicted to expand by nearly seven percent.
"After years of instability...a true middle class is now developing. Economic reforms have given the government money to invest in health and education, and foreign investors are eyeing Pakistan for the first time.
"In many ways the country has become the world's most surprising economic success story," the report said.
The report describes Pakistan's rising economy as a "heady turnaround" for a nation that, in the late 1990s, was practically a failed state with near-zero GDP growth.