Where does Pakistan stand?

Being in a group of developing countries, Pakistan faces largely the same or similar issues that are common to hird world or less developed countries. These include a rising population, worsening water and energy situation and high inflation.
However, unlike its regional peers, Pakistan, the second largest economy of South Asia, lingers behind other countries on economic growth and prosperity.
The report "Global Economic Prospects" just released by World Bank has projected Pakistans GDP growth to ease to 2.5 percent in FY11 from 4.1 percent in FY10, highlighting that growth trails the South Asian region which is expected to experience 7.5 percent growth in the ongoing year.
Indisputably, the countrys productivity has taken a knock from flood losses throughout the current fiscal year. But, the report also brings to light other major stumbling blocks - such as deteriorating security condition, heightened political uncertainty, stalled policy implementation, and extensive infrastructure bottlenecks - that are responsible for the fragile economic recovery.
Not to forget, the worsening law and order situation has also put a spoke in the countrys industry and trade wheels, stoking fears among local and foreign investors. Official estimates put total direct and indirect cost of the war on terror to around $18 billion in FY11.
Yet, while the law and order situation is out of hand to a great extent, it would be highly unreasonable to lay all blame for the poor economic condition on weak security conditions. Thats because the country has been fighting a losing battle on the governance front as well.
The Global Competitiveness Index, which mirrors the business operating environment and evaluates the productivity of countries, ranked Pakistan 123 out of 139 countries in 2010-11. This is down from the rank of 101 out of 134 countries, ranked in 2008-09.
It is embarrassing to note that the major problematic factors for doing business in Pakistan are corruption, government and political instability and inefficient government bureaucracy.
Rising corruption alone is enough to keep investments at bay. This can be gauged from the Corruption Perception Index, which ranks Pakistan 143 out of 178 countries on the corrupt scale, much worse than regional neighbours - India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Clearly, blaming everything on law and order - as government officials usually love to do - wouldn be the right identification of the problem.