Islamabad December 9 2021:
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin Thursday said that we are out of Covid now and last year our economy witnessed inclusive and sustained growth which is vital for overall development. He said in the past we have seen growth, but it did not sustain because our savings have been low, and our economy had overheated.
He was expressing his views on ‘Pakistan’s Environmental Social Governance Dimensions: Securing Excess to Long Term Capital’ as chief guest on the concluding day of SDPI’s 24th sustainable development conference titled ‘Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving no one Behind’. He said the major area affecting our economy is trade gap. He said we did not pay any attention to our exports as in 2013 our exports stood at 25 billion dollars which declined during the later years.
We have to reduce this import-export imbalance, he stressed, adding that the present government has adopted right approach which is bearing results as upsurge is being witnessed in our exports.
On production side, he said, it is not at the desired level and we need to focus on three areas, revenue enhancement by improving Tax to GDP ratio, agriculture sector and the industrial sector.
He said another area is housing sector wherein over 40 industries are linked and this sector can have a multiplier effect towards development. Tarin said we have decided to adopt bottom up approach and Kamyab Jawan Programme would prove a milestone towards overall betterment in the society.
He said at the moment our economy is growing at over 5% but unfortunately due to global pricing issue a slowdown has been seen but it would not last long and in coming few months the situation will improve as the prices in the world market are gradually coming down.
He said several economic indicators including increased revenues reflect that our economy is growing.
He said the Prime Minister is concerned about the predicament of lower and lower middle classes and the Ehsas Ration Programme would prove instrumental in this regard.
He said the corporate sector is flourishing and they need to share the profits with the less privileged.
He said corporate governance needs to be further improved as it has great role in the country’s overall development.
