LONDON, Feb 13: Former prime minister Shaukat Aziz expects a larger coalition government to emerge after the Feb 18 elections than the one which he had headed, but says the PML-N would probably be out of it because of its rigid position on judiciary.

Speaking at the 11th annual dinner of the Pakistan Bankers’ Association (PBA) here on Tuesday night, Mr Aziz talked at length about the future challenges facing Pakistan, claiming that the country in the last eight years had come a long way but new challenges had emerged which need to be tackled by the next government.

“This is nothing unique to Pakistan, every country is faced with its own kind of challenges and once they are overcome new challenges arise, that is a recurring phenomenon,” he said.He claimed that during his tenure as the finance minister and then as prime minister he was able to institutionalise a large segment of decision making processes.

“We are now breathing better, the level of poverty has come down from 36 per cent to 24-25 per cent. But in the meanwhile food prices and energy shortages have appeared which are the new challenges.”

He said because of extremism, Pakistan had paid a huge price and “it has affected Pakistan’s brand and dented its image”.

He blamed the situation in Afghanistan for the rising trend of extremism in Pakistan and thought that terrorist activities in the region were being financed by drug money which, he said, was swelling with Afghanistan having become world’s main source of narcotics.

Mr Aziz took great care not to step on anybody’s toes while pointing out the faults in policies for which he implied he was not responsible. Even while boasting about his economic and governance successes he tried to sound humble.He had kind words for Ms Benazir Bhutto whose assassination he termed as a great national loss.

Earlier, the president of the PBA, Mr Anwar Zaidi, made a brief reference to the history of the association which was founded in 1996 by a group of UK bankers who had their roots in Pakistan.

The PBA has a membership of 100 representing 45 premier global financial institutions.

Mr Zaidi said that among other things the PBA had a student outreach programme the aim of which was to provide a network and guidance for British Pakistani students to prepare them for careers in the UK financial services industry.

He also referred to the ongoing financial crises let loose by the subprime loan debacle and thought the UK would not remain immune to the consequences.

He said the UK had become the gateway to promoting Islamic banking.