UN General Assembly
1996

It spawned a drug culture and failed to equip our youth for employment in the modern world. Today we face, along with other countries of the world, the dangers of debt, deficit and demography. I am proud to say that we in Pakistan have brought down our population growth rate from 3.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent. We hope to reduce it further, to 2.6 per cent. In the last three years, we have brought down our deficit by three points, and a billion dollars of debt has been retired. However, the cost has been heavy. Each year we have had to present a harsh budget to pull our country out of the quicksand of debt, deficit and demography. This year alone, out of new budgetary measures of PRs. 40 billion, PRs. 22 billion went to debt servicing. The example of Pakistan shows why increasing numbers of the world’s population live in poverty and squalor, without access to clean drinking water, sanitation, schools or hospitals. These bleak realities of debt servicing breed a despair