AFTER two years in power, government officials have now finally started speaking positively about economic outlook of the country. Addressing a meeting of business community organised by Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Karachi, Adviser on Finance Hafeez Shaikh said economy is moving forward on right track. He was also confident to surpass growth target set for the current fiscal year. This is good news but it would prove equally good if effects and benefits of economic recovery reach the common man.
It goes to credit of present government and its economic team of taking most difficult and unpopular decisions to bring down deficits and restore some sort of stability after the country registered negative growth in the last financial year due to breakout of Covid-19 that had brought everything to a complete standstill. It is heartening to see the situation returing fast to normalisation with all sectors now stand opened. The impact of incentives announced by the government especially for construction sector will be visible in next few months. The construction sector alone, at a great cost to green Pakistan, has the potential to generate immense economic activity and offer hundreds of thousands of new jobs to youth.
At the same time, government must maintain its focus on export led growth. For this, it is also important that government rises above lip service and accords due emphasis to the uplift of agriculture sector. We are an agrarian country yet it is deeply lamentable that today we are spending our precious foreign exchange on import of wheat and sugar. Apart from fixing support price for major crops, steps should be taken to reduce input costs of the farmers in order to encourage them to grow crops on more land. In case of any calamity such as recent rains that destroyed crops, federal and provincial governments must announce compensation for the farmers.
While the economy is showing signs of recovery, it is important that maximum relief is extended to common man and all segments of the society whose purchasing power has been greatly affected by high taxes and price hike. Efforts should also be expedited to bring down prices of essential commodities such as sugar and wheat flour.
