Pakistan's reforms may slow down, targets slip
Reuters, Karachi
Shaukat Aziz is hailed as the driving force behind Pakistan's economic recovery, but the reform process that put the country back on track may slow now he has become prime minister, analysts said Wednesday.Aziz has implemented unpopular conditions of International Monetary Fund programmes over the past five years as the military-led government's finance minister, a post he is expected to retain after taking over as prime minister last week. Global donors approved as he became Pakistan's first finance minister ever to complete two IMF programmes, but Pakistan has decided not to renew the loan facilities. Analysts say that with IMF supervision gone, and looking ahead to local elections next year and general elections in 2007, the government may be tempted to allow populist considerations rather than hard-headed financial reasoning to dictate economic decision-making.
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