Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday said the government wanted rapid development in all spheres across the country with equity but said it will not do so by compromising its sovereignty.
"We will never ever mortgage our nation and there will be no compromise on our national dignity and sovereignty," Aziz told editors and senior newsmen about his government's resolve to stay away from the clutches of International Monetary Funds at the PM House.
"We have rid the nation of IMF crutches and now we only accept loans for development and not consumption," he said. He also mentioned the Fiscal Responsibility Law that puts a cap on the limit of loans that a government can acquire.
Recalling the situation a few years back, when the country was on the fringes of being declared bankrupt, Aziz said "we have come a long way from the times when the sword of Damocles was hanging on our heads to the present when we are a growing economy".
The Prime Minister said, earlier the country suffered due to the policies of ad hocism and a lack of continuity and consistency. "Now there are no more U-turns and the country is being transformed into a knowledge-based economy," he said.
He said the 2006-07 budget will bring in numerous incentives for the common man as a mechanism will be put in place to ensure that prices of essential items remain within a reasonable range.
"Our major thrust will be to provide essential items through the network of Utility Stores Corporation," he said and added the details will be announced later. When asked about the trend of rising prices, the Primes Minister said measures were afoot to keep those in check. He cited the example of cement prices, which had gone up and said market forces were used to bring these down.
Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Salman Shah on Wednesday said the next fiscal budget would promote health, education, human development to ensure sustained development process in the country. He said "an environment of progress in the field of education, health, industry and agriculture would be created to exploit the potential of the people in the country."
Giving a pre-budget briefing and an overview of the performance of national economy, Dr Salman Shah said the country's economic growth has been internationally acknowledged and all the economic indicators are showing positive trends in the country. Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan, Secretary Information, Shahid Rafi and senior officials of the Ministry and anchor-persons of the electronic media attended the briefing.
The briefing for the editors of the national dailies was organised jointly by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The objective of the pre-budget briefing was to provide background information to the editors of the national dailies. Dr Salman Shah said that owing to prudent policies of the government the national economy managed to achieve around 6 percent economic growth during the last five years.
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