KARACHI, April 27: The government’s claim of Pakistan’s economy being prosperous was questioned by Mr Akbar Zaidi, a renowned economist, who observed that the common man was still suffering and the benefits of the so-called progress had not trickled down to him.

Mr Zaidi was discussing different aspects of the national economy at a seminar organized on Thursday by the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, under its Programme on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.

“Pakistan’s economy is only prosperous for those people who are well off, otherwise common man is still suffering. It is a ‘bubble economy’ that is very feeble. Improvement in the standard of living is still a question mark,” he said.

The economic health had improved of only those people who had the capacity to survive in such hardships whereby economic challenges were increasing day by day.Mr Zaidi highlighted all those aspects of economic condition that can either improve or deteriorate the economy of any country. He was of the view that there had been an increase in the direct foreign investment over the years but this had not resulted in the benefits to trickle down to ordinary citizens. He said that local stock markets were showing a significant improvement but the actual beneficiaries were only a handful of people involved in the stocks and share business who had actually established their monopoly in the market.

The present economic policies are no different from the previous ones, according to the economist, who elaborated that the overall economic condition of Pakistan had improved after 9/11 due to the changed security paradigms of world politics.

The overseas Pakistanis having witnessed troubles kept on sending remittances to the country and this became the prime cause of an improved lifestyle of some people who spent their money in buying either property or lavish things.

Mr Zaidi said that after 9/11 the debt burden had not decreased, rather the payment of loans taken from different countries had been rescheduled.

Prof Moonis Ahmar also spoke on the occasion.