KARACHI, Oct 1: Despite the fact the Sindh government has paid back all its debts of Rs11 billion to the State Bank, the magnitude of the problems remains large owing to disparities which are a source of despondency.

This was the essence of the keynote address by the Sindh Finance Minister, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, who inaugurated the two-day seminar on “Economic Development in Sindh”, organised by the Dawn group of newspapers on Tuesday.

Dr Sheikh said that since 1989 Sindh had to borrow owing to the fiscal indiscipline and the debts were billed at Rs20 billion.

He said that Sindh owed Rs11 billion to the SBP and for the first time in 11 years the province succeeded in having zero-debt vis-a-vis the SBP.

Dr Sheikh said that lowering of interest rate on federal government debts from 17 to 11 per cent had also eased the situation and resulted in savings to the tune of Rs400 million annually.

He, nevertheless, admitted that problems were of a large scale and despite the government efforts many factors had a negative bearing on the province’s economic performance.

In this context, he referred to the spiralling petroleum prices and lack of job opportunities as factors contributing significantly to the growing despondency.

He acknowledged that implementation capacity was a big challenge and emphasised that decentralisation needed to be followed up.

While he recounted achievements of the government, he did not touch upon the vital issue of water distribution between the provinces which is a major cause of backwardness and sense of deprivation in Sindh.

Although he talked about projects implementation having picked up pace since the district governments were put in place, he did not fully focus on the lack of infrastructure in Karachi and the rest of the country.

He also reviewed the development portfolios over the years and said Rs14 billion had been allocated this year as compared to Rs2.1 billion set aside two years back.

The Sindh finance minister also referred to the allocations the provincial government had made for education, especially of girls, and said that Rs18 billion for this purpose would also take care of free education and provision of books to poor children.

He also referred to creation of endowment for financing higher studies of those who cannot afford it.

He also referred to infrastructural development and the boost given to implementation of projects since the formation of district governments.

Talking about foreign investment, he said that an agricultural estate will be created in the province with the help of a Spanish company for fruits and vegetable export.

Earlier, Mr Hameed Haroon, CEO of the Dawn Group of newspapers, in his welcome address, emphasised the need for restructuring attitude towards economic planning and criticised the black press laws.

He said that the local government system was aimed at bypassing the provinces and increasing control of the Centre. He believed that it was not going to work.

Editor Dawn, Mr Saleem Asmi, focussed on social problems of Sindh. In this context, he referred to shortage of basic amenities in Karachi and the curse of Karo Kari, marriage with Quran and feudal hold in the interior of Sindh where private jails had been discovered.

Resident Editor of Dawn, Islamabad, M. Ziauddin moderated the seminar.