Difficult times have passed, country’s economy will grow faster in next few months: Alvi

President says IT sector can transform the economy by covering neglected segments

FAISALABAD: Pakistan is now way past difficult times and its economy is expected to grow at a much faster pace within the next few months, said President Arif Alvi.

Addressing the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) Business Excellence Award ceremony on Thursday, he informed the businessmen that the government was making efforts to uplift Pakistan’s ranking in the ease of doing business index with a target to improve it to 100th place.

Speaking about the IT sector, he termed it the most important area, which could transform Pakistan’s economy by involving the neglected segment and the female population. Comparing Pakistan with China, he said that the share of IT and digital economy was less than 1% in Pakistan whereas it was 38% in case of China.

“In old days we provided sewing machines to females so they could steer economic activities from their homes,” he noted.

Alvi was of the view that IT would provide women an opportunity to work and earn in the modern day environment because the entire world would be their market now.

Regarding demand and production, the president quoted the example of Philippines and recalled that in 2016, its IT exports were merely $4 billion, which jumped to $20 billion in 2018. Moving to agriculture, he maintained that it possessed massive potential for growth but the government had to realign its priorities to fulfil the real demand of the farming community.

The president disclosed that the government had chalked out a program under which agriculture graduates would have to work in farms in order to gain practical knowledge of agricultural practices.

“Tourism is yet another sector, which can stabilise the economy,” he remarked.

Earlier, tourists were reluctant to visit Pakistan due to security reasons, he argued, but since the situation had improved, people were pouring in not only for tourism but also for religious ceremonies.

Speaking on the occasion, FCCI President Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain appreciated the economic policies of the present government and pointed out that despite the critical economic situation, it managed to reduce gas and electricity tariffs for five export sectors.

He also highlighted various problems confronted by the business community of Faisalabad and demanded the establishment of an IT university and upgrade of Faisalabad International Airport.

Elaborating further, he informed that Faisalabad was a land-locked city, which had two motorways, one passing from its eastern side and another on the western side.

Both of these motorways could be integrated through construction of link roads of motorway standard, he suggested. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2019.

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