ISLAMABAD, Dec 20: Pakistan’s economic growth rate averaging around seven per cent over the last three to four years has resulted in substantial poverty reduction and improvement in standard of living, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Salman Shah on Wednesday.

“This will not only enable us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 but will also launch the country on a path of modernisation, development, international integration and prosperity,” he said.

Dr Salman Shah was speaking at a seminar organised with Mr Buchanan, Co-head of Goldman Sachs Strategic Forecasting Unit.

He said globalisation has arrived in Pakistan. “Attracted by our markets we have significantly large foreign investors coming into our product and services markets.”

“We have created an investment environment that will help Pakistan achieve its full potential. We have now in place a growing economy, a dynamic private sector, a vibrant parliament, a totally free media, an independent judiciary and a reasonably functioning bureaucracy,” he added.

Dr Salman said with 160 million population of which over half is below 19-year of age, a rapidly growing middle class that is fuelling unprecedented growth, Pakistan is rapidly transforming into a major market economy with large-scale product, services and labour markets our per capita GDP income has crossed $2,500.

“This is a level where the purchasing power of population can sustain large domestic demands for all kinds of modern goods and services”.

“We have the scale and talent to be a world class manufacturing and servicing centre of the region, Though we will not be as big as China or India, we will definitely be in the league of Brazil, Indonesia and Russia from amongst the emerging economies,” he said, adding “our vision is based on ‘not bigger but better’.”

The advisor said effective implementation of liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation policies was designed to create an enabling environment for Pakistan to benefit from opportunities unleashed by globalisation.

“Our second generation reforms arc designed to create effective institutions of a private sector driven competitive market economy. We are establishing a new competition authority, a new statistical authority, reinforcing our security and exchange commission and deepening our capital markets.”

He said that demutualization of stock markets was underway and new systems were being introduced to ensure transparency of transactions. “Our public institutions are being reformed and so is our private sector.”

The financial sector is now primarily owned and managed by the private sector, has strong balance sheets and is leading the way in innovation and modernisation of the economy, he added.

Dr Salman Shah said the banking system had to connect the regional economies in tandem with a financial services industry that could channel billions of dollars into the needed infrastructure projects.

He said the government was developing an industrial strategy for the country that would provide a hassle free environment to industrialists, adding that modern industrial parks, special economic zones and free trade and warehousing zones, with all the requisite infrastructure facilities and communications and connectivity were being created.

He added that the SME clusters all over the country were being supported by programmes for technology upgradation, marketing linkages, financial support and employee training.—APP