ISLAMABAD, May 19: The dividends of economic achievements should trickle down to the poor and strategy be devised to reduce poverty and to provide more relief to the common man. This was stated by Senate Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Senator Ahmed Ali, while presiding over a committee meeting held at the Parliament House to discuss the state of the country’s economy.

Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan informed the committee about economic achievements of the government. Referring to the forthcoming budget, he said under the directives of the prime minister, several steps had been proposed to make it a pro-poor budget.

He said the government was focusing on improvement of infrastructure and human resource development. Various initiatives have been taken in livestock, housing, industrial and banking sectors to increase jobs opportunities.

The minister said surveys showed that poverty was decreasing in the country and every possible effort was being made to arrest its upward trend.

The committee also took up the bill titled “The Bank (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill 2004” and deferred the discussion on it till the next meeting on the request of the minister of state for finance.

The committee was given a briefing by Dr Ashfaque H. Khan, director-general (Debit Office) and economic adviser to the finance ministry on Pakistan’s emerging economy.

Referring to economic challenges, the adviser said improving macroeconomic environment, bringing debit situation under control, restoring investor’s confidence, reviving economic growth and restoring financial discipline were the challenges faced by the country.

He said as a result of economic reforms undertaken by the government during the last five years, economy had made significant progress.

Dr Khan said successful reforms had given momentum to rising investment. He said unemployment had reduced and poverty was on decline. Financial discipline, he said, was a must for macroeconomic stability and sustained high economic growth in the future.

Members took keen interest in the deliberations of the committee and made recommendations for consideration in the next budget. They emphasized the need for holding of pre-budget sessions and involving the people’s representatives in the budget-making process. Their recommendations focused on poverty alleviation, unemployment reduction, promotion of small and medium enterprises, debt repayment, price hike, agricultural research, and promotion of tourism sector.

The meeting was attended by senators Nisar Ahmed Memon, Agha Pari Gul Chaudhry, Mohammad Anwar Bhinder, Asif Jatoi, Prof Khurshid Ahmad and Dr Safdar Ali Abbasi. CBR Chairman Abdullah Yousaf and senior officials of the ministry of finance also attended the meeting.