ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday the electricity shortage had caused a massive decline in industrial output, leading to a loss of hundreds of billions.

Presiding over a meeting of the Task Force on Private Sector Development here, the president said if the energy policy formulated by the PPP government of the 1990s had been followed, the country would have been spared the current power crisis. The country could even be in a position to export electricity, he said.

The task force has been constituted by the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, and comprises businessmen, industrialists, economists, bankers and other experts on private sector development. Several federal secretaries are its ‘ex-officio members’.

Mr Zardari said that half the country’s population was of 17 years or below, adding that the young workforce could be transformed into a vehicle for economic growth through an appropriate policy framework.

“Unemployed youths having high expectations may destabilise the situation,” he remarked.

He said the government’s policy was aimed at realising the untapped potential of the private sector. The role of the public sector should be that of a catalyst, for creating and maintaining a favourable business climate and developing a skilled labour force.

The chairman of the task force, Shahid Javed Burki, briefed the president on its activities. He said the task force had adopted a plan aimed at creating business opportunities for the private sector, besides promoting trade and industrial development.
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