THE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME AND PAKISTAN: External influence or Internal Acquiescence?

For nearly two decades. the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been implementing stabilization and structural adjustment programmes in underdeveloped countries. These policies have focused principally on attempts to improve balance of payments. cut inflation. reduce the budget deficit. and ensure increased economic growth. Institutional and structural arrangements within the economy are also transformed so that the package can be implemented in the appropriate conditions. The results of the structural adjustment programme are mixed: some countries have shown growth. others have not; for the most part. the budget deficits have not been adequately cut; many programmes have been outright failures with disastrous consequences. There is almost complete agreement that the social welfare and human repercussions of the structural adjustment programme have been all too severe. Pakistan has adhered to a structural adjustment programme since 1981 . The central argument of this paper is that Pakistan's economy is in fairly good shape and does not need an IMF/World Bank sponsored structural adjustment programme. Pakistan does not suffer from the ailments and afflictions which a large number of countries. who have requested and followed structural adjustment programmes. do. The economy has grown markedly in the past. and can continue to show growth. development. and progress. without structural adjustment programmes. However. reforms and better management are needed. The paper concludes with an attempt to understand why our governments and our intellectual elite fail to question and evaluate the agendas set from abroad.