Integration of economy: PM speaks of criticality of e-governance

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said Pakistan has attained favourable macroeconomic indicators and now it is incumbent upon government functionaries, investors, exporters and stakeholders to collaborate synergistically for further strengthening the economy while the comprehensive integration of the entire economy via an e-governance system would be executed.

He said this while sharing his views at the inauguration ceremony of Faceless Customs Assessment System (Central Appraising Unit), at South Asia Terminals Pakistan (SAPT), during his day-long visit to the port city.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Minister of State for Finance, Revenue, and Power, Ali Perez Malik and other notables were also present on the occasion.

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He said that the macroeconomic indicators like our exports which increased by 11 percent while the Information Technology – IT Exports that registered 34 percent increase, are positive.

The prime minister congratulated the Finance Minister, FBR, Karachi Port and the Customs department on behalf of the government on the successful launching of Faceless Customs Assessment System.

He also lauded the young officers of the Customs Department and said they are serving Pakistan and this is after 77 years that these officers have achieved the accomplishment that the nation expected and whose occurrence was an inevitable process for the economic development and prosperity of the country. Now faceless interaction between importers and the Customs department officials has started, he appreciated.

He said that with the launching of this project, now the Goods Declarations time of a consignment is 10 minutes and if there are more than one items are part of the consignment, it may take 15 to 20 minutes.

The prime minister said that it is very gratifying that in just three weeks, the Bill Of Entry (BOE) time has been reduced from 42 hours to 19 hours during the experimental phase of this project. The average BOE time of 19 hours is a great achievement and it is hoped that the target of 12 hours average time, as per target assigned by him, will also be achieved with further improvement. The Feel Good Factor of importers regarding this project is 88 percent, which is very good, he noted.

He suggested that Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and Governor Sindh Kamran Khan Tessori, who were also in attendance, should conduct a third-party evaluation of this project through the IT experts.

He said that in the last nine months, the focus on FBR Reforms, are yielding good results.

He said that the officials and staff of the Customs department who will make additional recovery with their honesty, dedication and hard work, will also be considered for giving 10 percent cash reward of the total recovery, and a formula would be devised for it.

The PM said that we have already achieved the revenue target that we had set for this fiscal year under the commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said that we also have to reduce electricity prices and we will also talk to the provinces in this regard so that the provinces are also given responsibility.

He said that until the price of electricity per unit does not come down to Rs 15 to 20 per unit, agriculture and exports cannot develop.

Earlier, the prime minister visited the Faceless Customs Assessment System (Central Appraising Unit), at the SAPT here.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025