$100bn export needed in 5 years to manage external financial needs: minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said there was a need to increase the domestic export of Pakistan from $32 billion to $100 billion in next five years to manage the external financial needs (debts) of the country.

Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, he said: “Pakistan will be in progress and development, if we increase its export from $32 billion to $100 billion in five years but it will be difficult for the country if the time taken is 10 years to get this target.”

“We will increase the potential of export. When the country is in the development way, then import is increased and it faces deficiency of dollars,” he added.

He said efforts were being made to bring about progress in agriculture and services sectors.

He said the annual funding requirements for Pakistan’s development programme were over Rs1900 billion, however the government could manage to set aside only Rs700 billion for the current financial year due to financial constraints in the ongoing fiscal year. He said that in the last four years, 42 percent of federal funds were allocated for provincial projects, and very little funds were left for federal projects.

“We will release an outlook on various sectors at the end of this financial year. We will highlight in this outlook that what will education stranded and health and how many need of schools and hospitals in next eight years (till 2030). What will be needed of infrastructure for the country?”

Iqbal added that the whole government was running on borrowing as the tax and non-tax revenues of the federal government would be Rs9000 billion this year, of which Rs4000 billion would go to the provinces, and Rs4000 billion would be spent on paying debts.

The minister claimed that previous government kept calling everyone thieves, which also angered China by accusing them of expensive projects.

During the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) tenure, he added, there were problems regarding visas for Chinese companies and “now we are restoring China’s confidence as we are preparing for the coming meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on CPEC.”

He said China had the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plan and Pakistan had the advantage of its location. He said “we could become a trade centre between a large region.”

He said China had the advantage of getting an alternative corridor in CPEC, adding if even five percent of China’s trade starts from Pakistan, it would be great benefit to Pakistan.

The minister said Chinese companies had set up energy projects on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) mode, adding more than 80 million new jobs were being created due to the high cost of labor in China.

A mover about the procedure for the distribution of fund, Syed Mehmood Shah MNA from Balochistan alleged the ministry for corruption and said that development projects of other MNAs of Balochistan were included in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2022-23 but his constituency was deprived from it.

He complained that in his constituency, not a single project was included in the PSDP- 2022-23.

This angered the minister who said, “I protest against your words, projects are approved on regular forums. I did not approve these projects. These projects had been approved by higher forum such as National Economic Council (NEC).

After the explanation, Shah apologized on his remarks.

The minister said that after the 18th Constitutional amendment, 58 percent of the revenue under NFC goes to the provinces. He said the continuation of economic development policies on sustainable basis and political stability was necessary for development of the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022