AS a result of global breakout of Corona virus which brought everything to a standstill, country’s overall economic growth rate plunged to negative during last fiscal year with all sectors of economy except agriculture registered negative growth. This gloomy situation warrants extraordinary steps and decisions in timely manner to put the economy back on a positive trajectory.
Presiding over a meeting of Economic Think Tank on Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan also called out for out of box solutions to revive the economy. Regardless of facing diatribe from different quarters, it goes to the credit of PTI government for pursuing the strategy of striking a balance between sustaining economic activity and protecting masses from the infectious disease. It also announced a mega package for construction and housing sector in order to provide job opportunities and trigger economic activities in the country. How far this package succeeds in attracting individuals and investors would become visible in days and weeks ahead. It is however important that government itself execute on fast track development projects under the PSDP to provide much needed confidence to private sector whose investment, especially in housing sector, will in fact go a long way in achieving economic targets set for the current fiscal year.
There is always a lot of lip service on importance of agriculture sector yet regrettable part is that no concrete step is ever taken to provide succour to this sector considered as backbone of our economy. Two months ago, a multibillion -rupee agriculture relief package was announced to provide subsidy to farmers on fertilisers and pesticides, reduction in bank mark up on agriculture loans and sales tax subsidy on locally manufactured tractors. It was part of Rs 1200 billion rupees stimulus package announced by the government for different sectors to support them amidst Covid-19. While relief has been extended to other sectors, it is unfortunate that farmers are still awaiting implementation of the package. In given situation, agriculture has assumed greater importance than any other sector and federal, provincial governments must fully support farmers to ensure food security and take forward the economy. We will also suggest the government to consider reopening the tourism industry with SOPs as it will also greatly contribute and give impetus to domestic economy.
