On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the current economic scenario of Pakistan required tactical solutions to address economic problems and stressed rising above politics to sort out the financial issues confronting the country.
Addressing the ‘Turn Around Conference’, he said economic self-reliance was the key to achieving the goals of development and prosperity. He spoke about receiving a text from Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail sharing the good news.
“Miftah Ismail sent a message this morning saying that Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the IMF. I told him in response, Alhamdulillah, but our ultimate goal is self-reliance,” the premier told the audience.
The prime minister said Pakistan was facing many external and internal challenges which were compounded by the existing commodity super-cycle and the geopolitical situation.
He said as the economic growth did not offer enough opportunities for national progress, short-term measures could act as a catalyst for speeding up the growth. He said financial self-reliance was the top priority of the coalition government.
PM said focusing on the areas of agriculture, agro-based industry and exports were vital to strengthen the national economy. He stressed the need for judicious utilization of the $2 billion tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and pledged that every single penny would be spent prudently.
He also mentioned the support of China during the tough financial times and helping Pakistan in its journey towards economic stability. PM Sharif said there was no dearth of talent and potential in Pakistan and emphasized setting the right direction to achieve the goals of prosperity.
He pointed out that several vital projects such as Reko Diq were abandoned in the past damaging the development agenda of the country. He said also, many power generation projects were stopped that resulting in a shortage of electricity and impacting the industrial growth.
PM highlighted that it was a major achievement that neighboring Bangladesh had recently spent $6 billion on infrastructure without approaching the IMF, World Bank or Asian Development Bank.
There is no shortage of anything in Pakistan and there are experts in every field, PM Shehbaz said, before lamenting that “billions of dollars are buried in Reko Diq but we have not earned a single penny”.
“It is a pity that the country’s development and prosperity have not been achieved,” he said.
The prime minister expressed satisfaction that the conference engaged all the relevant stakeholders who could hold the development sector together with from across the nation.
He said wider and inclusive consultations of experts belonging to diversified fields could be helpful in providing solutions to come out of this economic quagmire.
Mifta Ismail also addressed the conference prior to PM Shehbaz Sharif’s speech. Finance Minister said the government gave relief to people despite tough circumstances.
He said the government imposed direct taxes and also the Super Tax to help the country become self-reliant. Moreover, he said the previous government took Rs 20,000 billion loan in around four years which put a heavy burden on the national exchequer.
He mentioned that tax had been levied on the rich and vowed to also bring the traders and shopkeepers into the tax net.
The conference was attended by representatives of political parties, federal ministries, provincial governments, national and international private sector entrepreneurs, international development and financial institutions, academia, think tanks, independent experts, NGOs and civil society.
