Pakistan needs to adopt a sustainable growth plan by implementing the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, said Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht.
Speaking at the Pakistan Leadership Conversation 2022 on Thursday, he said that countries relying on remittances and dollar inflow would keep witnessing external shocks.
“Pakistan needs to embark on export-oriented growth strategy because its debt issues are escalating,” he voiced concern. According to him, the information technology sector could play an important role in attracting foreign exchange to Pakistan.
Both federal and Punjab governments approved prudent policies during the pandemic to support growth of the IT sector, he said.
He was of the opinion that sustainable and inclusive economic growth depended on agile, data driven and resilient government decision making.
“Recent policy improvements for the technology sector are set to help attract valuable foreign exchange to Pakistan,” he said. “We must continue focusing on digitisation and amplify the ease of doing business to sustain the growth momentum.”
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Due to the changing global scenario, the provincial government adopted technology in many forms, he added.
Apart from this, the government of Punjab also has deeper information about the human resource of the province, he stressed.
Speaking on the occasion, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab Dr Salman Shah said that the government was well aware of the issues in Pakistan. “The country mhas availed a stringent International Monetary fund (IMF) programme aimed at resolving its macro level issues such exchange rate and twin deficits,” Shah said.
He lamented that after 70 years of independence, the country was suffering from a massive debt burden.
The external debt is unsustainable and to survive it, the country need to take more debt, he said while highlighting the need for major reforms. “Due to these reasons, the federal and provincial governments cannot allot complete focus to the development schemes in the province,” he said.
He highlighted that Punjab had nine divisions and each had its own comparative advantage.
The Gujranwala was home to several industries and the government was working on a pilot project to uplift and connect these industries to the rest of the country, Shah stated. “However given to the financial situation of Punjab, only 5-10% of the entire development fund was generated through the Annual Development Programme,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2022.
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