Paks social indicators worst in Asia: ADB

It might have been 60 years since Pakistan came into existence, but it is still marked with poor governance, endemic corruption and social indicators that are among the worst in Asia, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

Islamabad, Aug 15 : It might have been 60 years since Pakistan came into existence, but it is still marked with "poor governance, endemic corruption and social indicators that are among the worst in Asia," according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

The special evaluation by the ADB on Pakistan's 61st independence anniversary, says that the country has provided a challenging context in which to implement a programme of development assistance.

In the first evaluation report in 22 years 'Learning Curves: What role for ADB in Pakistan?' the bank says that wars and cross-border conflicts with its neighbours, strong ethnic and cultural divisions, continued existence of feudal social relations in some parts and a complex structure of government comprising federal, provincial, district, tehsil or taluka and union levels, each with an elected body since 2002 have marked Pakistan's modern history.

The evaluation goes on to say that three periods of military rules, 10 changes in the leadership of civilian governments during 1988-1999, erratic economic growth, with periods of faster growth neither sustained nor translated into better social outcomes, rising poverty rates throughout the 1990s were important developments in Pakistan over the years.

The Dawn quoted the evaluation as saying that Pakistan has too many ADB loans in too many sectors and sub-sectors, given staff and technical resources and the requirement of its business processes.

It recommended that in the absence of a major increase in the number assigned to support operation in Pakistan, the bank should reduce the number of sectors and sub-sectors it is involved in.

An appropriate scenario would be four core lending and two core non-lending sectors, with a more focused approach, the report says.

The ADB said that the balance would need to be adjusted between lending and economic, thematic work and policy dialogue, adding that the second element would be to ensure that operations are underpinned by more rigorous analysis and that it becomes recognised as a leading source of ideas in its sectors of core focus.

ANI