Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Ahsan Iqbal said that the current government's economic agenda would play a pivotal role in making Pakistan an economic super power. Ashan Iqbal while addressing the Pakistan's business community at the Chambers of Commerce said that the world was witnessing a transformation and it was imperative that countries prepare for this transformation. He explained that there was a time when Pakistan's economic growth reached 6% as a result of dollar inflow and slumped as soon as it stopped. The 60's, 80's and 9/11 witnessed this trend.
In the 90's Pakistan developed an economic plan that was later used by India, but unfortunately Pakistan became a victim of political instability. In 2013 we got another chance to uplift the economy. We would be able to achieve a 5% growth rate this year and would strive for 6% next year.
Giving economic overview of the country Ahsan Iqbal said, "In the last three years, the economy has seen a steady growth from 2.5% in 2013 to 4.8% last year, which is the highest growth rate in the last eight years. Our foreign reserves with $24 billion are the highest in the history of Pakistan. This economic take off had changed the perception of the world about Pakistan.
Speaking of war against terrorism he said that Pakistan was yet to fully overcome terrorism but had made considerable progress and would continue to do so. Expressing his views on CPEC he said that CPEC was opening new doors of opportunities for the people of Balochistan. He updated the audience on the improved energy situation in Pakistan and said from 18-20 hours of daily load shedding in 2013, it came down to 6-8 hours. Ahsan Iqbal said "The biggest ever investment in the country was being made in the energy sector, which was US $35 billion out of US $46 billion portfolio of the CPEC.
In the last 67 years we managed to produce only 17,000 MW of energy while in only three years time we added 11,000 MW of electricity in the national grid. He said that all concerns about the Western route of CPEC have been proven wrong. He also mentioned about the first trade convoy carrying goods for export through this route. He said that through CPEC Pakistan would be able to attract the kind of investment it could not in the past.-PR