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| December 8, 2005 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 5, 1426 |
‘Sustaining economic growth big challenge’
ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Adviser to the prime minister on finance Dr Salman Shah on Wednesday said the government was trying to sustain the economic growth it had achieved last year. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the eighth three- day sustainable development conference organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
He said after the October 8 earthquake it was a great challenge for Pakistan to sustain its last year’s growth by making different strata of society to play equitable roles in the production process.
He said the government was putting more money into universities to increase the ratio of enrolment as at present only 2.5 per cent of the students could go to universities. He said the government was also aware of the value of clean environment and its relevance to poverty alleviation.
Mr Shah said the government needed 10 per cent increase in its energy consumption every year to sustain its economic growth rate.
He said the government was also trying to reach at a consensus over the construction of big water reservoirs.
In her welcome address, Dr Saba Gul Khattak, executive director of the SDPI, said she was pessimistic about the economic performance of the country where many people could not afford their basic needs. She said in many parts of Punjab farmers had burnt their crops in protest after they sensed elimination from the international trade following the implementation of WTO in the agriculture sector.
She urged the need for alternative research that could gauge the impacts of various economic and environmental projects. For example, she said, the schools opened to reduce child labour had increased the number of child workers as children had to start work somewhere in order to get admission to the schools.
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