Pakistan overtakes neighbours in Economic Freedom Index 2015

E-Paper | June 17, 2026

Pakistan's 'mostly unfree' economy showed improvement and has edged ahead of all its immediate neighbours in the 2015 Economic Freedom Index, published by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation.

Pakistan was ranked at 121, out of 178 countries included in the Index, with 55.6 points.

The country shows an overall improvement of 0.4 points and is ranked 25th out of 42 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, with an overall score below the world and regional averages.

The latest ranking reflects progress in investment freedom and freedom from corruption. The improvement is largely counterbalanced by a decrease in labour freedom and business freedom.

Another key factor responsible for Pakistan's less than average ranking is the prevailing security situation which discourages foreign investments.

In its immediate neighbourhood, Pakistan fares better than India ranked at 128 with 54.6 points (a 1.1 point decrease from last year); China at 139 with 52.7 points (improvement of 0.2 points); Iran at 171 rank with a score of 41.8 showing an improvement of 1.5 points from last year.

The index ranges from 'free' (rank 1-5), 'mostly free' (rank 6-35), 'moderately free' (rank 36-90), 'mostly unfree' (rank 91-152), repressed (rank 153-178) and 'unranked'.

Pakistan, India, and China are counted in the 'mostly unfree' category while Iran is part of the 'repressed' group, according to the index.'

The countries listed as 'free' and topping the index are Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland respectively.

Similarly, countries in the 'repressed' category featured at the the bottom of the list include Eritrea (174), Zimbabwe (175), Venezuela (176), Cuba (177) and North Korea (178).

Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Liechenstein were not covered in the ranking.

Pakistan has also recently improved its rank to 122 in the global competitiveness index in rankings published recently by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Similarly a report on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2014 released by the Transparency International (TI) had also showed improvement in Pakistan

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Imtiaz

Jan 28, 2015 12:10pm

Bravo! At last we found a ranking where we are not the worst.

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Ahmad

Jan 28, 2015 12:23pm

Good news. I hope the progress continues but with a better rate.

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Sunil

Jan 28, 2015 12:37pm

With current situation in Pakistan, still terrorism, not completely routed out, gasoline and electricity crisis, it would be very risk to invest.

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asgher

Jan 28, 2015 12:44pm

After a very long time Pakistan is moving in right direction! No thanks to our political leaders.

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Nauman

Jan 28, 2015 01:04pm

We are indeed more freerer than the neighbors. Our leaders can be ultra corrupt very freely indeed.

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ABBAs kd

Jan 28, 2015 01:05pm

I want to thank not only our government leaders but also all other politicians from the opposition parties, for getting united & putting their differences aside, for the sake of better future of our country & our future generations, we all owe it to them, thank you. We still have long way to go but at least we seems to be on the right path.

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catherine

Jan 28, 2015 01:09pm

@asgher Or do you mean western investors?

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salman

Jan 28, 2015 01:10pm

Nawaz will pull Pkaistan to better situation. One needs to find black sheeps within PML N ranks who are trying to bring PML N down so that they can benefit. Need to terminate these persons from with PML N ranks.

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N.Sid

Jan 28, 2015 01:14pm

At 121 Pakistan is faring better than India(at 128) and Bangladesh( at 131). Though facing terrorism and other issues, the economy is still growing and now Pakistan GDP is 840 billion USD in purchasing power parity(26th largest in the world), and 245 billion USD on nominal basis. Need to let negativity go and start working, aspiring for greater heights and with lot of positive energy, this is what Pakistan need. The young generation is far too smart and brimming with positivity and this is what matters most. Where there are challenges there are opportunities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofPakistan

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N.Sid

Jan 28, 2015 01:15pm

Pakistan is all run by private enterprises. Even the education sector with more than 35000 private schools, close to 70 private universities, health sector is mostly private as well, the housing sector is all run by private real estate developers. So guess what, the failure of the government or incompetency doesn’t mean the failure of Pakistan and its close to 200 million people. What does it also mean…the government health/education/housing contribution(a paltry 2% of GDP) is substantiated by all private sector. In fact we don’t the government at all.

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Pady

Jan 28, 2015 01:34pm

We Indians wish to see Pakistan free of terrorism, free from religious bigotry and intolerance, free from Polio,where leadership will be in elected hands, peace loving and thriving country. Hope the day will come earlier.

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Sam

Jan 28, 2015 01:37pm

Who is ready to invest? No International players are ready to visit your country..I mean cricket or any other sports.../ Tourist as well.

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Jan 28, 2015 01:41pm

Wall street is basically looking at the stock market of Pakistan and giving Pakistan the points. Ask the common and middle class people. The devaluation of the rupee. The price hike of utilities. The per capita income. The lending and borrowing. Inflation and so on. We don't even stand near 170. And remember the stock market has escalated due to all the black money to be turned into white money, this was Zardari's idea no questions asked.

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Kamal

Jan 28, 2015 01:51pm

Pakistan improving economically - I am happy. Pakistan must improve social standard. Msut have a civilized society without any terrorists. Else all acheivements short-lived. Kamal Indian

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roarwali

Jan 28, 2015 01:59pm

More economic freedom means more capitalism. Moderate regulation is necessary for the well fare of the people

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A A

Jan 28, 2015 02:04pm

P M is moving in right direction.

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N.Sid

Jan 28, 2015 02:42pm

@roarwali By that premise welfare countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia which have the most free economies comes under Capitalism, they aren't.

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Bhavani

Jan 28, 2015 02:45pm

There is absolutely nothing wrong is maintaining Govt. control over business and economic policies in countries like China, India and Pakistan. Unlike the small and sparsely populated countries, we have to take care of a large population with immense diversity and disparities. Not giving a free run to business to exploit limited resources and gullibility of the buyers is but a national socio-economic need! You cannot compare organges and apples on the same scale!

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Nomi

Jan 28, 2015 02:45pm

@jj sorry bro, you have very limited knowledge of what you write. your findings are not based on reality. Even in developed world people have issues. Nothing can be 100 % perfect. Our Currency is stable for the past two or so years, governance is getting better. Even in such conditions where whole country is in grip of terror ( Internationally Sponsored) still loads of new construction projects are started, not to mention few which are near completion. On top many Projects related to energy have been initiated, and progressing. Your stock market is rocket flying, and is termed on top in Asian Markets for last year. (Black money people didn;t come out of blue, there were there even before, why then no money was poured in make them white). Your railways have touched break even within a year, and Karachi Lahore motorway , china -Pakistan economic corridor has kicked off with $ 45 Billion on its way. 3G / 4G has bring you billions, sukok bonds (which people were not ready to buy before) brought you more billions then expected. I think its a 100 if not 1000% progress for a country which has 8 waste of years and no single improvement is noted. Hope has arisen. In shall Allah, wonders will be seen in coming future. Advise : All pakistani's must exercise some patience. We don't have aladin ;s lamp, where jinny will jump out and sort our all problems. Things take time, and as a civilized citizens ( which we are not in anyway) we shall give them ample time and decide our/their fate at the General Elections. (Only if we don;t sell ourselves for peanuts and vote for the right. (using our common sense), please. Regards

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Ashraf

Jan 28, 2015 02:57pm

As the security situation improves, we can expect further improvement. The road to development & social uplift is long and arduous..but it begins with the first step in the right direction

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Alam

Jan 28, 2015 02:57pm

@Sam ...China recently signed MOU for investing USD.42 billion in Pakistan. Obama promised USD.4 billion in loan/investment in India. Total investments by US investors in India during 14 years is around USD.13 billion. During same period Pakistan recovered more amount from US and NATO as transit fee.

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Ravi Sharma

Jan 28, 2015 02:57pm

I think economic freedom has more to do with government policy and is not a economic indicator in any way, it is not necessary that a more economically "free" country would be better than a more controlled economy. It is more of a measure of which country is more capitalistic than anything else. We see China is behind India in this list.This is more of a measure of which country is more in line with American system.

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Shazzay

Jan 28, 2015 03:07pm

@Sunil Really Sunil ? We dont know that Trust me you have opened our eyes.

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Shazzay

Jan 28, 2015 03:09pm

What if there was no Corruption? NO Security Threats? And no Religious Anarchy that was brought in by Zia. Our Land if Full of Natural Resources, We have Bright Souls But We lack a Visionary Leader. Just One Visionary Leader and We will Be far ahead.

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Sunil

Jan 28, 2015 03:26pm

Some news to cheer about. Good luck Pakistan.

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Harmony

Jan 28, 2015 03:36pm

@Sunil - Don't worry "with current situation in Pakistan", we will come and invest in 'developed' India instead even though it is still at number 125 compared to ours 121.

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Sunny

Jan 28, 2015 03:46pm

Bravo, The rich are getting RICHER and the poor are getting POORER. The MIDDLE CLASS are the main SUFFERERS .... BRAVO ... Dont underestimate the power of the Common man ....

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Deepaknayak

Jan 28, 2015 03:56pm

good news

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Imran

Jan 28, 2015 04:23pm

These positive developments are owing to people's awareness which is largely due to Imran Khan's sit-ins and media programmes.

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SQQ London

Jan 28, 2015 04:23pm

Where are SO Called Indian Friends...and any comment from them...

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Ravi Dallas TX

Jan 28, 2015 04:34pm

I stopped reading when it says China is at 139...

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Ali

Jan 28, 2015 05:21pm

I love Pakistanis.

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dr vimal

Jan 28, 2015 05:34pm

Pakistan wins!!!!

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WhoCares

Jan 28, 2015 05:49pm

Article talks about freedom and not condition.

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Rahul

Jan 28, 2015 05:56pm

nice...

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M. Siddique

Jan 28, 2015 05:57pm

I wonder what this index means in real terms. We see after 67 years of independence we cannot provide very basics to the people.

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Arsalan Kamal

Jan 28, 2015 06:03pm

...and yet both China and India attract many folds more foreign investment!

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Tan

Jan 28, 2015 06:11pm

@Harmony: You are investing heavily in India everyday and every year from last 25 years continuously!!

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Jan 28, 2015 06:18pm

@Imtiaz yes the ranking gives a number but where's your own money? It's all borrowed and economic freedom is something you don't have a choice with when there's no freedom of any kind... people need to have money and take it out if they wish...

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Riaz

Jan 28, 2015 06:38pm

@Sunil Still rated above India, strange

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Azmeen

Jan 28, 2015 06:48pm

Finally positive indicators. Both leaders and people need to act in unison to accelerate this positive trend.

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Sheryar Khan

Jan 28, 2015 06:51pm

A banned terrorist organization can trade freely only in paksitan. Of course it is free-er than india!

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syed

Jan 28, 2015 06:57pm

Who you want to fool; Only present and ruling elite have improved their economy everyone else has only suffered?

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Toordada

Jan 28, 2015 07:04pm

@N.Sid Look at this way. Pakistan facing the menace of terrorism and other national and international hurdles was still managed to secure slightly better rating than its neighbors. Imagine what this country will do if it can get rid of these obstacles. Pakistan needs to improve its relation with the West in order to improve its economy and image. Image and perception is everything.

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Weirdity

Jan 28, 2015 07:12pm

Amazing! I knew Pakistan can do it. Now Pakistan just needs stable power supply and everything will be fine then.

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Toordada

Jan 28, 2015 07:18pm

@Shazzay Agreed. there were Tow visionary leaders that I can remember, Ayyub Khan and Musharraf. Under the leadership of both the leaders, Pakistan was respected through out the world and economically strong.

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Harmony

Jan 28, 2015 07:43pm

@Tan - Good for you then...keep hallucinating!

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Huzaifah

Jan 28, 2015 08:43pm

@Sunil Its not Crisis it a simple short term mismanagement.

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ASH40(US)

Jan 28, 2015 09:36pm

& still at worst economical condition...Pakistan GDP is 200 Million USD approx. to an Indian state Maharastra.....

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shaan

Jan 28, 2015 09:40pm

Inshallah the economy will continue to strengthen. Pakistan is blessed with an abundance of resources. Bad management has plagued the country, and mindsets need to be changed and replaced by hard work, merit and talent.

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Riaz M M

Jan 28, 2015 09:45pm

Unfortunately most of the investment in Pakistan is in property market as in property market it is very easy to hide illegal, untaxed money.Hugh investment in property market (like in projects like Bahria town and other similar ones) is in fact damaging our economy by preventing investment in essential sectors like industry ,commerce and other infrastructure projects which are essential for the progress of our country .Housing estates are not going to contribute to our prosperity ,infact these are robbing the country of valuable land specially the agricultural lands.it is time that big housing estates are stopped and only houses covering area upto 200 sq yards & apt buildings are allowed to alleviate housing shortage.After all building palaces by the kings did not contribute to the progress and stability rather this hastened our downfall(sadam Hussain's numerous palaces also failed to stop his demise)

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Liaquat

Jan 28, 2015 10:09pm

With all bad things like terrorism, political instability, target killing this progress is great. I am wondering if this country will be free from bad elements its place will be in top developed countries. Zara Num hoo too yea Matti Bari Zarkhiz hay Saqi

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Dr Jayachandran, India.

Jan 28, 2015 10:33pm

Well done, Pakistan. Keep it up. :)

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anonymous

Jan 28, 2015 10:54pm

Good

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Khan

Jan 28, 2015 11:22pm

Modi brought India down... Wait for more.

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John

Jan 28, 2015 11:42pm

How trades are influenced by so called super powers read ... 'confessions of an economic hit man'

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Manish

Jan 29, 2015 12:27am

Its good to see India, Pakistan and Bangladesh uder saffron color...

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AJamal

Jan 29, 2015 12:31am

Remember the official GDP and other economic indicators do not truly reflect the reality as black economy is larger than the official economy.

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AJamal

Jan 29, 2015 12:32am

@N.Sid. Very well pointed out.

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Manu

Jan 29, 2015 12:56am

Well done Pakistan... I wish you get a lot of FDI and at least your youth who are lured into the world of terrorism because of unemployment, may find solace in the money, respect, and a the peace that a good job brings with it.

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Zahid Ismail

Jan 29, 2015 12:58am

And this is where Nawaz PLMN is best... Bravo..

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Em Moosa

Jan 29, 2015 01:46am

The numbers have been provided by Pk bureaucracy which are not reliable.

Recommend 0

Jan 29, 2015 02:00am

So looks like they want us to improve on the following areas: - Labor Reforms (Already being talked about) since they dropped the score from 74 to 48.7 in a single year which is clearly an indication that it is a pressure for us to reform the labor laws - Business Freedom (Reforms are already on the way) This should definitely improve next year since single window system as well fast track clearance (20-30) days instead of almost 2 months today.

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Lorenzo

Jan 29, 2015 02:10am

Interestingly the countries with left leaning governments are in red... this is such inaccurate reflection of reality. the government in US runs by corruption although there is called lobbying and is legal. Lets publicize what really happens in US, how many politicians are not convicted of taking bribes by corporations. In Mexico corruption is in plain view... a narco-state.

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Faith

Jan 29, 2015 02:44am

@N.Sid ....Is ordinary citizen going to have Electricity , Gas and petrol tomorrow. WHO CAN PROMISE that.. I dont care about the index this wont solve my issue.

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Yemeen Zuberi

Jan 29, 2015 04:35am

@Nomi In your criticism of JJ you forgot that the report is not about the economic condition of the country, the report is about how much a country is controlling its business concerns. It is fact that our economy is in shambles, The businesses are left on their own because our legislature ls not playing its due role properly. In fact our legislature has little idea of trade and industry. The industrialists bribe to get full freedom. This is the reason that Pakistan get less orders because fake businessmen who get the order either could not meet them or send products that do not confirm the order; on the other hand China has regulated its industry and only genuine investors are in the field. China takes strict action it some company fails to fulfill an order properly. This the reason that China can not be judged higher in this survey. Regards

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justme

Jan 29, 2015 04:41am

Just wondering why Paki always write and worry about India. Move on guys! get your citizens civilized first!

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Kuldeep

Jan 29, 2015 06:19am

@Harmony you can invest in China also as ur better than China in the rating lol :P

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Kuldeep

Jan 29, 2015 06:21am

Pakistan better than China lol

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kumar

Jan 29, 2015 07:03am

lol

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pakistani

Jan 29, 2015 07:22am

thanks to KPK, corruption free government.

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Citizen

Jan 29, 2015 10:08am

@Harmony Arey arey, control karien bhaisaab!

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Babar

Jan 29, 2015 01:52pm

Lots of things are improving in Pakistan, this country is on the path to prosperity. It takes time to see the positive change.

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ina

Jan 29, 2015 02:50pm

how amny people in pakistan knows that one state in India(Maharshtra) has GDP(nominal) equal to that of pakistan and now imagine whole of India and the economic freedom is more means less collection of taxes from the companies but more from people as from usa and uk and for developing countries it is important to have more taxes from companies then from people and i guess pakistan collects less tax from both people and companies then not much revenue for pakistan if it is so, so leads to less development and less infrastructure by its own means leading to growth by aid money as china is investing in pakistan otherwise pakistan would be biting the dust

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Zawwar Hussain

Jan 29, 2015 03:35pm

@Liaquat You are right bro...hope for batter....All Pakistani's must exercise some patience....

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muhammadzauq

Jan 29, 2015 03:48pm

@Pady We the Pakistanis also wish Indians free of terrorism, free from religious bigotry and intolerance, peace loving and thriving country. Hope the day will come earlier. The bracketed portion (free from Polio,where leadership will be in elected hands, ) is not shared by ind with us

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Sohail

Jan 29, 2015 05:14pm

@Sunil The gasoline crisis won't last a week. Actually there is great scope in hydropower generation in Pakistan and many International investors from South Korea, China and US are already making massive investments in this sector. Inflation rate has also reduced this year and stock market is also reviving. The economic conditions don't change overnight but they surely are improving steadily.

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Harmony

Jan 29, 2015 07:47pm

@Kuldeep - We do already. Doing trade with China is helping their industry. So that's an indirect investment!!!

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Mehmana

Jan 30, 2015 12:46am

Pakistani institutes are always better than their eastern counter parts.

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Ali (CA)

Jan 30, 2015 07:30am

What a fresh breath of air. We as foreign Pakistanis love to invest in our country

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Ali (CA)

Jan 30, 2015 07:38am

@jj - and how exactly do you turn black money into white in the stock market please? Hope you are not in finance

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Rizwan

Jan 30, 2015 08:32am

@N.Sid You are very right. I never thought of this - Pakistan is run by corporate enterprises. Our weak governing structure actually may help us in the end.

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Rizwan

Jan 30, 2015 08:39am

@ASH40(US) majority of Maharashtra economy comes from Mumbai, so it is not really a state that is a fair comparison.

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Rao

Jan 30, 2015 08:49am

What's the point....With no improvement in security, US & Chinese Presidents skipped visiting Pakistan....What signal do the businessmen in these countries are getting from their politicians. EU warns its airlines to fly above 24000 ft over Pakistan airspace. What does it convey to EU businessmen.....You can draw conclusions

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hamza khan

Jan 30, 2015 09:03am

@Sunil those issues exist in much worse conditions in your sorry country. go visit your poor neglected farmers who are commiting suicide daily.

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Nasir Jamal Khan

Jan 30, 2015 09:21am

@Shazzay . The bright and energetic souls do not need a visionary (or otherwise) leader. Every energetic soul leads him/herself. All he/she needs is a vision, an aim, a plan, and perseverance to achieve his goals for improving himself and his surrounding. All can be done with small step and efforts.

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Aman Rishu

Jan 30, 2015 09:47am

You do not have gas, no electricity, no fuel, and have major cities turned into nothing other than war zones. And still you are ranked at 121, and china is at 135. I suggest you neighbours to be practical and see the ground reality. Reports like this are done as per the stats, and stats do not run a country. Stats keep on changing and even a good mathematician, or a high speed computer can misinterpret them.

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Truth

Jan 30, 2015 01:10pm

Corruption is still the main problem and when Imran Khan wins the next election, Pakistans ratings will be unbelievable higher in all sectors of progress. We hope Pakistan is terror free before Imran Khan wins next Goverment elections.

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Prasad

Jan 30, 2015 05:11pm

Now these are the areas where I would like to see Pakistan grow...congratulations and all the best in further improvements!!

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