Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), visited the Finance Division on Tuesday for a meeting with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and his economic team.
During the meeting, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh gave the Queen a detailed overview of the economic situation in Pakistan with a focus on various policy steps and initiatives undertaken by the government to restore macroeconomic stability and the progress achieved in recent months in different sectors.
The adviser also spoke on the issue of inflation and enhancing local productivity through various policy means and measures. He further briefed the Queen on the nature of public finance and mechanism for resource distribution between the centre and provinces and allocation of funds and resources for protection of the poor and marginalised sections of the population.
The Queen thanked the Adviser for a comprehensive presentation of various aspects of the economy and shared her view on a range of economic issues, including the need for enhanced financial inclusion and better coordination among different tiers of the government.
Meanwhile, addressing Pakistan Innovative Finance Forum, Queen of Netherlands and UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development Queen Maxima stressed that financial inclusion is pivotal for the development and economy of Pakistan. She said the financial inclusion will also create more opportunities for the people of Pakistan. “Situation of ease of doing business in Pakistan has improved a great deal.”
The Queen of the Netherlands was appreciative of the government’s revised financial inclusion strategy targeting sixty-five million active digital accounts by 2023 including twenty million to be held by women.
The Netherlands’ queen has been the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Inclusive Finance for Development since 2009. On Monday, Queen Maxima had chaired a meeting on financial inclusion in Islamabad.
Speaking on the occasion, she had said Pakistan has made advancement towards the financial inclusion but still more needs to be done. She stressed the need for use of technology to bring improvement in financial inclusion. Queen Maxima along with six-member delegation landed at the Islamabad airport via flight TK-711 earlier in the day.
