A Social Sector Strategy for Pakistan

Pakistan had an excellent growth record in economic sectors over the past 30 years, with an average annual growth rate of the GDP of over 6 percent. However social development indicators could not grow in commensurate with the growth rate of the economy. Because of the past neglect of the social sector. growth in the economy could not sustain during the 1990s.Not only resource commitment for the social sector remained absolutely inadequate but also inefficiency in the use of resources was much too high. On the other hand, as a result or poor performance of the social sector, poverty and gender issues have assumed alarming proportions. These were the impelling reasons for the government to change its development planning strategy when it launched the Social Action Programme Project in 1993-94. As a result some positive trends for all the social sector indicators have started emerging, however, their impact in terms of better quality of life is yet to be seen.