ISLAMABAD, (Millat + APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
on Thursday said Pakistan was set on track of sustainable growth and
was ready to do business with the world.
“Pakistan with its sixth largest population in the world, 80
million middle class, blessed with human and natural resources,
strategically located, politically stable, offering attractive
policies is a destination no global player can miss,” the Prime
Minister said in a meeting with heads of international
organizations, here at the PM Office .
The group of corporate leaders that attended the meeting
belonged to the Untied States, Australia, China, United Kingdom,
Canada, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Germany, South
Korea and Switzerland.
The Prime Minister urged upon the foreign businessmen to avail
the country’s investment potential and “enjoy the first mover’s
advantage”.
Nawaz Sharif apprised the businessmen that Pakistan’s economic
conditions were improving continuously with an objective to achieve
five percent GDP growth rate from the current three percent.
He said the government was aimed at achieving sustainable
economic growth and mentioned several steps taken in this regard
including strengthened tax administration, rationalize untargeted
annual subsidies and widened social safety nets.
He said these steps reinforced macroeconomic policies, which
resulted in lower budget deficit, increased foreign exchange
reserves, and low spending on energy subsidies.
The Prime Minister said the government was cognizant of the
need for a comprehensive and contemporary policy framework that
supported macroeconomic stability.
“We are well aware that international investors need stable
markets backed by clear and consistent policies. We are committed to
maintaining an enabling policy framework to attract foreign direct
investment,” he said.
He said the Vision 2025 mapped Pakistan to join the top 25
economies in the world leading to Upper Middle Income country status
by 2025.
He said the country’s economy was targeted to grow over 8
percent between 2018 and 2025 while maintaining a single digit
inflation.
He mentioned that PricewaterhouseCoopers had placed Pakistan
at 20 in its projected list of 32 most powerful economies of the
world in 2030.
The Prime Minister said as a result of sustained commitment to
reform, key economic indicators had improved since the government
was elected in 2013.
Over the past three years, the government brought down the
fiscal deficit from 8.6 to 4.2 percent, increased Tax to GDP ratio
from 9.8 to 12.4 percent and investment to GDP ratio from 14.9 to
15.2 percent, he added.
He mentioned that inflation had been contained which had
earlier touched 1.6 percent in October 2015 and had remained well
under 3 percent since then.
He said industrial sector showed remarkable performance and
registered a growth of 6.8 percent during 2015-16 and was poised to
do even better this year and onwards.