Pakistan currently has one of the world’s growing economies. In 2004 the country’s Gross National Income was of more than 90 billion and the GDP was 96.1 billions, while the growth rate was of 6.4 percent annually.

It has grown at this pace since 2004 and until 2009. The World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have loaned Pakistan on the long term, supporting it financially. In 2006, Pakistan went through a merchandise trade deficit of almost $14 billion. The gap in trading has also risen because of the expensive imported oil, food, automobiles and machinery.

Pakistan became independent in 1947. Back then agriculture dominated, covering 53% of GDP. Nowadays agriculture covers only 1/5 of the economy, as the industrial sector has also developed. The Food and Agriculture Organization of The UN confirms the fact that Pakistan supplies: mangoes, apricots, tangerines, clementines, oranges, rice, date palm, chickpea, cotton, date palm, milk sugarcane and wheat.

Pakistan has one of the biggest irrigation systems in the world, watering the 25 percent of the country which is cultivated. Agriculture helps with the employment of 44 percent of the working population. 60 percent of the country’s total land area cannot be used for agriculture or forestry because it consists of urban settlements or it is not suitable to be cultivated as it is covered by deserts or mountain slopes. These regions can sometimes be used for livestock activity. 90 percent of the agricultural production is watered by use of the irrigation system, an important engineering achievement.

Half of the country’s GDP is accounted for by the service sector: finance, insurance, transport, communications and storage. Tourism is starting to come to life, as the country ahs to offer Indus ruins and Himalayan resorts as tourist attractions. Pakistan’s economy includes industries like chemicals, agriculture, textile or food processing.

Pakistan is rich in natural resources and minerals: limestone, iron ore, diamonds, marble, salt, gypsum, precious metals, copper, sulphur, coal, fire clay, graphite, silica and gems. The province Balochistan is rich in minerals, natural gas and oil and it has not been explored to its full capacity. Pakistan exports furniture, textiles, cement, leather, cotton products and rice.

As for imports, the main elements are: petroleum products, but also pharmaceutical products, automobiles, trucks and transport equipment, computers, machinery of all sorts, electronics, toys, iron and steel, aircraft, electronics, computer components, and defense equipment. Pakistan’s most important trade partners are the United States of America, China, Japan and countries in the European Union.

India warns Pakistan over terror, advocates ‘creative solution’ for Kashmir
Ahead of their forthcoming talks to reduce the ‘trust deficit’, India has asked Pakistan to stop using terrorist groups ’selectively as strategic assets’ and advocated a ‘creative solution’ to complex issues like Jammu and Kashmir.

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Chinese deal with Pakistan hems Obama China’s decision to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is posing a challenge to the Obama administration’s commitment to curb the spread of nuclear technology. Analysts see in the administration’s muted response a reluctance to press China at the risk of losing its support for sanctions on Iran and a hesitation to upset a delicate … Read more on The Washington Times

Pakistan test-fires missiles: military Pakistan says it has successfully tested two missiles capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads. Read more on The Age

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Website: www.zoomtv.in Emraan Hashmi’s popularity was yet again a matter of interest to many. Recently he was chosen as a brand ambassador of a cell phone company in Pakistan. Post the release of Awaarapan, Emraan has become the heart throb of Pakistan.