ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the danger of default is over following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Addressing after laying the foundation stone of Islamabad model special economic zones on Tuesday, the prime minister said the government has to negotiate with the IMF to avert default and now there is no danger of default.
The premier said that unlike the previous government, the present government is committed to the IMF conditions and would comply with them.
PM Shehbaz maintained that Pakistan’s reserves have reached US$14 billion mark and the government is grateful to those countries that helped Pakistan. He added that now there is a need to bring about reforms in the economy, adding that to revive and recover the economy, agriculture, mineral, IT sector and increase in export are critical areas.
The premier added that for the development of these sectors, agreement with the IMF was important.
He said that power theft is rampant and so is corruption not only in the power sector but all the state-owned enterprises and Rs600 billion losses are suffered every year. Now there is a need to undertake serious measures to bring about reform in the economy and priority would be given to agriculture, mineral IT, and export for the development of the economy.
The prime minister said that the entire nation must get itself united on “charter of economy” so that no government could change the economic policies.
He also came hard on the previous government and stated this economic zone should have been made functional five years ago. He said that Dhabeji economic zone should have been inaugurated a long time ago.
He said that $30 billion investment was made in power projects, Orange Line, roads, hydel power project from 2015-2018, and claimed that after that the CPEC project was frozen. He said that the government was involved in fire fighting, following floods and spent billions of rupees to help the people, adding the government has to import wheat to meet the domestic needs.
Earlier, addressing the ceremony of youth sport imitative, the prime minister said that out of the Rs5 billion Prime Minister Fund, Rs2.5 billion would be used to meet travel and other expenses for the sportsmen.
He said that if proper environment and facilities are provided to the youth they would be able to compete with anyone in the world.
He said that the government has allocated Rs5 billion in the budget for this purpose.
He said that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have been increased by $600 million as the EXIM Bank of China has rolled over the amount.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023