LAHORE, Oct 8: Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the prime minister on finance, has said that the economy is doing well and the government is endeavouring to pass over its fruits to all people especially those living in far-flung areas.
Speaking at a seminar on “Economic Development and Performance of Private and Public Sectors in Pakistan”, organized by a Urdu daily at a local hotel, the adviser said that the economic indicators were positive and the International Finance Commission (IFC) in its survey had ranked Pakistan among the 10 best performing economies of the world.
“We are moving positively on all fronts, we hope to achieve 7 per cent GDP growth rate this fiscal year while inflation has been brought down to 8.5 per cent from 11.5 per cent,” Salman said.
He said that the prime focus of the government’s economic polices was to ensure betterment of all people including those living in rural areas. “We have been maintaining high growth rate during last four years and if we succeed to continue this trend for next five years, poverty would be eliminated to a great extent.”
Referring to inflation he said that this issue was also being tackled effectively and it would be brought down to 8 per cent this year, 7 per cent next year and to 5 per cent in the following year.
Regarding trade deficit, Dr Shah said it was partly due to high petroleum prices and partly because of the higher imports of manufacturing machinery. “Import of heavy machinery speaks of expansion of the economy which is a good sign.”
He said that the current account deficit was 2 per cent of the GDP which could be easily financed and was not a problem.
Dr Salman said that the government was pursuing a comprehensive programme of reforms in different sectors to create environment conducive to investment and facilitate traders in doing business.
“We have carried out intensive and deep reforms in financial sector while under devolution plan revolutionary changes have been brought about in system of governance,” he added.
Similarly, he said that a comprehensive reforms agenda was being implemented in the CBR with an aim to facilitate taxpayers and minimize involvement of tax officials.
He said that the agriculture was main stay of the economy and effective steps were being taken to ensure its full exploitation.
“We have enormous potential in different sectors and despite the problems with the EU over dumping duty, Pakistan has the potential to be leading textile exporting country of the world in future,” the adviser resolved.
He said while engineering, automobile and electronic were growing in double digits, “we are the fastest growing country in telecom with 1.50 million people entering in this net every month.”
Dr Shah said that special focus was being laid on development of infrastructure as it was essential for overall economic development of the country. He said as far energy was concerned, “Pakistan is located in energy surplus regions and we have the expertise, manpower and machinery to get energy to meet our increasing requirements.”
Regarding utilization of water, he said that to ensure that all the regions of the country get on board and it was win-win situation for all. “We have to use ourwater resources and are actively working for it.”
Dr Salman Shah said that Khushhal Pakistan Programme was being implemented with huge funds allocated under it to ensure that people have all basic amenities like clean drinking water, health care, sanitation, education and micro finance at grassroots level.
Dr. Ashfaq Hassan Khan, economic adviser to the prime minister, spoke at length about the government’s programme in different sectors.
He said sustained GDP growth, keeping inflation under control, fiscal disciple, development of infrastructure, further curtaining internal and external debt were salient features of the government’s economic policy.
He said these coupled with structural reforms were aimed at ensuring fast development of the economy which would lead to industrialization, creation of job opportunities and thereby alleviation of poverty.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Energy Mukhtar Ahmed spoke about the government plans to meet country’s increasing energy requirements.—APP
