''Pakistan keen to deepen reforms'': Salman stresses more privatisation

Pakistan is eager to deepen economic reforms that have delivered historic growth in the country despite political turmoil, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Economic Affairs, Salman Shah said on Monday.
Salman Shah said Islamabad was eyeing "second-generation reforms" to follow a bank privatisation program that helped power five years of 7 percent growth and doubled Pakistan''s GDP during the seven-year tenure of President Pervez Musharraf.
"These second-generation reforms would mean a leaner government and a much more active and aggressive private sector," he said in Washington, where he attended the semi-annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Shah said his government intended to move forward with privatization of the power and energy sectors as well as railways and airlines. Islamabad also planned tax reforms to broaden the tax base and steps to enlist the private sector in infrastructure development.
"In spite of all the politics, the economy keeps doing well because the reforms have made sure that the economy is now more driven by the private sector than by the politicians," he told reporters.
Pakistan is headed into elections and a tentative transition to civilian rule, under the cloud of political violence, underscored by last week''s killing of 139 people in a suicide attack on opposition leader Benazir Bhutto during her homecoming parade in Karachi.
Shah appealed to foreign investors and governments to maintain interest in his country, which borders turbulent Afghanistan and is fighting a mix of home-grown Islamic militants, the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.
"In the war on extremism, it''s very important that we succeed in Pakistan and that''s for the entire world," he said. "On our own, we are not going to be able to sustain it."
The 100 million people in Pakistan under 25, out of a total population of 160 million, represent "an age group that will determine the future of Pakistan and its growth and its economy and its politics," Shah said, underscoring the need to create jobs for young people.