PRIME Minister Imran Khan Friday said the government had no magic wand to bring about the promised change in five years adding that this limited constitutional term was insufficient for planning big development projects. Launching the countrywide spring tree plantation drive in the Miyawaki Urban Forest at Jilani Park in Lahore, he said in parliamentary democracy, elections were held every five years due to which big development projects could not be planned. He said bringing about such magical change in five years was not possible in any part of the world.
There is no doubt that greater transformation cannot take place overnight but they say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. With this in view, it is appreciable that the incumbent government has taken concrete measures in different spheres of life that would form the basis for a real change in the country. The change has started but it is not as visible to the people as it should have been just because it is macro-level change and would take some time for a trickle-down effect.
The macro-economic indicators are showing a positive trend due to direly needed but harsh and bitter policy decisions that have, of course, increased burden on the people but the country would be gainer in the long run. This is evident from the fact that the country has been put on an export-led growth rather than the previous import-led growth strategy, registering an increase in exports that were almost stagnant for the last eight years. The positive approach to increase exports is reflected in $1.2 billion worth of exports to the United Kingdom in the first six months of the current financial year, which is a record in 74 years. This is not without reason as the Government has invested much to promote the idea of ease of doing business.
Its success on this front can be gauged by the fact that according to the latest World Bank ranking in Ease of Doing Business, Pakistan’s ranking in this indicator has improved from 130 to 72 and is placed at 2nd position in South Asian countries in terms of Ease of Starting a Business. A number of initiatives were also undertaken by the present government during the last two and a half years aimed at saving national wealth including amicable settlement of dispute with the Turkish firm Karkey which resulted in saving of $1.2 billion penalty; renegotiation of solar power plants agreements from 20 cents to 2.37 cents; and revision of agreements with IPPs that would result in saving of hundreds of billions in coming years. These and similar other initiatives are bearing positive fruit and hopefully the Government would soon be able to offer meaningful relief to the people, who are complaining about inflation.
