RAYYAN KHURRAM VALLI writes about five key areas where Pakistan should invest to ensure long-term development…

Pakistan is a developing country with a population of almost 240 million. And it is growing. In order to better the quality of life for its people, Pakistan will need to invest heavily in development projects. Some of the key areas that need the government’s full attention are:

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Pakistan’s economy has been seen fluctuating over the past few years. It has been vastly dependent on GDP growth over the past few decades. Pakistan, despite facing a huge decline in forex reserves, is trying to find stability by building structural reforms.

AGRICULTURE

One of the main sources on which Pakistan’s economy relies is agriculture. It is important for Pakistan’s economy as it contributes 19% to GDP, has around 42% of the total labour force of Pakistan and is a stable contributor. In the recent past, new methods of irrigation and farming were introduced and are in use today such as irrigation projects.

INDUSTRY & MANUFACTURING

The industrial and manufacturing sector of Pakistan has seen a lot of improvement over the years. The textile industry has excelled in northern areas such as Kashmir and now in other parts of the nation as well. Pakistan is a major food producer producing important crops such as rice and wheat and is really advancing in that department. The CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is expected to boost industrial infrastructure and projects related to energy therefore providing more stability to the industrial and manufacturing sector.

EDUCATION

Education in Pakistan is one sector which struggles vastly due to lack of funds and gender inequality. The literacy rate of Pakistan was calculated to be precisely a low 58.9% which unfortunately means that 41.1 percent of people in Pakistan are not even literate. Thankfully, to tackle this problem, education reforms have been made which in my opinion will be highly effective. Besides this, many public schools have also opened to educate people who are less fortunate and cannot afford private schools or even proper education.

HEALTHCARE

Health has been a really common issue in all of Pakistan because of a really bad environment, excessive burning of fossil fuels, huge amounts of pollution and excessive burning and throwing of garbage especially in our critical sources of water like rivers and lakes. The people of Pakistan had to pay and are still paying the price of this. Fortunately, with the help of many organisations and the government, hospitals and healthcare shelters have been opened up to help people battling different water borne and deadly bacterial infections. Despite all its problems, the health sector is developing, slowly but surely.

Rayyan is a student of Froebel Education Centre. Writing is one of his passions. He is aiming for a career in journalism