LETTER: Business Recorder op-ed writer M. Ziauddin in his latest op-ed for the newspaper titled "the age of geo-economics" has displayed an academician's approach to the subject, which of course speaks volumes about his expertise and experience in the field of economic journalism.

Having said that, I do not endorse his argument that he has forcefully made in the beginning of his write-up by saying that "Pakistan's economy needs to grow at an annual average rate of at least 10 per cent of the GDP over the next 10 to 15 years to be able to lift the teeming millions from below the poverty line and generate enough jobs to absorb its ever-expanding youth bulge in gainful employment, provide to the majority of its population affordable educational facilities, health cover, public transport, communication facilities and housing. But in order to grow at this rate, the economy would need investment to the tune of at least 35-40 per cent of the GDP at an annual average for the next 10 to 15 years."

In my view, the writer seems to have lost sight of the fact that almost all the proposed targets by him cannot be achieved for a variety of reasons. We are not China where the one-party rule (the Communist Party of China) has successfully lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty in a matter of a few decades. China has one-party rule while the US has democracy. Unfortunately, however, we have neither.

SHABNAM RAHMAN (KARACHI)

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