K-P has highest growth rate in Pakistan

Economist says attention must be laid on western route of CPEC

PESHAWAR: Despite facing challenges such as a war against terror on its doorstep, massive spending on beefing up law enforcement, confronting with load shedding more than other parts of the country and among the highest population growth, the provincial economy has achieved the highest growth rate in the country.

This was stated by economist and former federal finance minister Dr Hafeez Pasha while speaking at a symposium titled ‘State of the economy and future priorities’. The symposium had been organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Pakistan and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), in Peshawar on Friday.

Dr Pasha said that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had the potential to become a booming economy with an exceptional growth rate and complete a record reduction in unemployment. All this provided the provincial administration made focused efforts to channelise the provincial economy.

The symposium was clubbed with the launch of two books related to Pakistan’s economy including ‘Growth and inequality in Pakistan’ by Dr Pasha and ‘Pakistan’s Agenda for economic reforms’ by Dr Vaqar Ahmed.

Dr Pasha said that it was quite encouraging that K-P has achieved the highest economic growth in Pakistan.

He added that despite being a surplus power producing region, it has been facing immense load-shedding, causing its economy to lose an estimated Rs350 billion annually.

Curiously, the former finance minister said that a projection made by the federal government on the costs inflicted on the province by the war on terror was extremely conservative and that it was at least twice the amount the government had officially quoted.

Even then, Dr Pasha said that the province had managed to ‘pay’ most of this cost.

Terming the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a real ‘game changer’ for the country and the province, he stressed that it needs to be implemented properly and focus must be laid on the western corridor — which passes through K-P — to realize its real potential.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2018.