Pakistan, April 5 -- The World Bank's chilling prediction - a further million Pakistanis pushed into the abyss of poverty - brings the need for immediate corrective action. Even a projected growth rate of 1.8 percent, modest at best, pales in comparison to inflation exceeding 26percent. This erosion of purchasing power negates any potential benefits from increased agricultural production, leaving the poorest even more vulnerable.

The government teeters on the brink of a full-blown economic crisis. The national economy, plagued by a stifling slowdown, anaemic growth, rampant inflation, and an ever-widening fiscal deficit, presents a picture of deep-seated malaise. The desperate resort to ever-mounting external debt to service existing obl...