ISLAMABAD, May 2: “The assessment of the PPP that the military regime failed in its economic programme was endorsed by the international finance community and the regime’s confession of its failure before them,” a Pakistan People’s Party spokesman has said.

He was commenting on press reports that the international financial community had sent a unanimous message to the military regime to accelerate reform efforts.

He said the military regime at the conclusion of a two-day meeting with development partners in Paris had acknowledged that serious challenges remained to be faced.

He said Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz had admitted that “the implementation of some key reforms is still a challenge. We have not yet succeeded in raising investment levels and taking the economy to the higher growth path essential for fighting poverty.”

The International Monetary Fund also asked the regime to reform the Central Board of Revenue, the Water and Power Development Authority and the Karachi Electric Supply Company. The performance of those institutions was far better during the PPP era as compared to its successors, including the military regime, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said that while health and education expenditure went up under the PPP, which had more revenues to pay with given the high growth rates, the expenditure in those sectors remained low under subsequent regimes. Taking note of this, the Paris meeting expressed concern “that critical expenditure in health and education had not yet picked.”

He claimed that Pakistan had its highest growth, investment, revenue and per capita increase figures under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto.

The spokesman said that twice power was handed over to the PPP after the interim governments had signed IMF agreements.