Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed the resolve to take the country towards economic stability in the next fourteen months.
Addressing the inaugural session of the “Turn Around Pakistan Conference”, being hosted by the Ministry of Planning and Development in Islamabad on Tuesday, he, however, stressed this would require political stability.
“We will have to rise above personal interests and take such long-term decisions which change the destiny of the country,” PM Shehbaz said.
Regarding the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan would receive $2 billion from the Fund, but our ultimate goal is to achieve self-reliance as it only guarantees to independently take political and economic decisions.
The Prime Minister said the country was facing difficult challenges, but it was our utmost effort to collectively steer the country out of them. He expressed satisfaction that the majority of the affluent class has accepted the super tax, which will help generate Rs 230 billion. He assured that
“This money will not be spent on current expenditures but will be used for economic development. A policy will be framed very soon which will encompass these development schemes,” he assured.
Regretting the delay in completion of various projects as well as the failure of the previous government to sign on spot or long-term agreement for the purchase of LNG, he said that the country was now importing coal from Afghanistan to address the issue of power outages.
“Since this transaction will be in Pakistani rupee, this will help the country save two billion dollars. This coal is suitable for the power projects installed under the CPEC.”
Read: CPEC and Strategic Priorities of New Government | By Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan
The Prime Minister asked the participants of the conference to give suggestions for uplifting agriculture and agro-based industries and bolstering exports besides that do away with obstacles in the way of businesses and investment. He said we want to end red-tapism and the culture of NOCs within a month.
