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172494
Fri, 04/01/2011 - 14:22
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Zardari calls upon economists to come up with out of box solutions to the economic woes
ISLAMABAD, March 31, 2011 (PPI): President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the economists of the country to come up with out of box solutions to the economic problems of the country and make concrete recommendations on how to address some of the most critical issues facing the economy.
While addressing the 2nd Convocation of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here at Aiwan-e-Sadr Thursday, the President said that Energy shortage, circular debt, taxation reforms, restructuring of public sector entities, and documentation of the economy were among the critical issues of the country’s economy and the Government was seeking to build consensus around these major economic challenges. He called upon the economists to make concrete suggestions for addressing these economic challenges to put the economy on solid footings.
According to the prepared text, the President said that the Government inherited an ailing economy which suffered heavy toll due to war against extremism, on one hand, and the unprecedented floods on the other. The floods brought untold suffering to 20 million people and caused a loss of US$10 billion the Pakistan economy, the President said.
However, he continued, we took the economic challenges head on. He said that a plan for economic revival has been drawn up and the Government was aiming to reducing non-development expenditure to cut expenses, reforming the power sector, restructuring the public sector enterprises, incentivize remittances and developing special programs for poverty alleviation.
He said that he believes that one way to address the economic issues and to gear up economic development was to incentivise economic initiatives. On this the President noted that the foreign remittances in 2007 stood at 6.4 billion dollars which have been considerable increased by following policy of offering incentives on foreign remittances. This year, the President said, we hope that our foreign remittances will reach 11 billion dollars mark.
He said that the Government gave incentives to farmers and as a result Pakistan became a wheat exporting country from a wheat importing country in 2007. This year 600,000 tons of wheat has already been exported, the President told the gathering. He said that we can also increase our tax revenues and collection of sales tax by giving incentives.
The President also said that another important aspect in strengthening of the economy was ensuring the continuity of economic policies. He said that the energy sector had suffered most seriously because of the thoughtless reversal of the energy policies of mid 90s. The President said that keeping in view the crucial role of continuity of policies in the economic sphere he had called for a dialogue including all political parties and stakeholders and called upon the business community to provide ownership to the economic policies so that they were not reversed merely of political reasons.
The President said that the Government believes that the objective of a growth strategy must be social and human uplift. That is why, he said, PPP Government especially focused on drawing people out of poverty cycle of generations. He said that a special poverty alleviation program that enjoyed the credibility of donors both with the country and abroad was needed to provide social cover to the poorest of the poor.
He said that it was a matter of great satisfaction that Benazir Income Support Program has been a great success that provides direct income support to poor households. The President said that over 74 billion rupees have been disbursed to the poor beneficiaries, through BISP. A scheme of soft loans, of up to 300,000 rupees for setting up of small businesses, has also been launched. He said that BISP has provided relief to over 4 million poor families, including IDPs, flood victims and the victims of bomb blasts.
The President hoped that these initiatives under the umbrella of BISP will empower poor households with education and skills.
The President also recounted many other achievements of the present government vis--vis economic situation. He said that the Government and the leadership realized the fact that it is their responsibility to take tough decisions--and tough decisions we have taken, he continued. The President said that in order to cut down expenses, the government reduced the cabinet size.
President said the subsidy regime has been rationalized and tax reforms have been introduced to mobilize resources. He also said that the tax net was being expanded, through introduction of the Reformed General Sales Tax. He said that we have devolved financial powers to provinces and gave the 7th NFC award after a gap of 19 years which has resulted into transferring over 300 billion rupees of additional revenues to the provinces. He also said that the provinces have been given the right to collect GST on Services.
He said that as a result of tough decisions the economy has turned around and has shown signs of recovery. He said that the Government hopes to achieve a positive economic growth of 3 - 4 percent during this year. Our exports are expected to increase by 25-30 percent to US$ 24 billion, the President hoped terming this as a record. The foreign reserves, he said, are 17.5 billion dollars which is also a record.
The President said that we had to take difficult political decisions to bring the economy back on track. We also must realize that difficult decisions, that we have to take, have to be taken together, the President emphasized. He said that this was the reason for which he has called upon all political parties to join hands and arrive at some consensus on economic policies just as we were able to arrive at consensus on constitutional reforms.
While lauding PIDE for achieving academic excellence and appreciating the talent of Pakistani economists, the President said that PIDE has established itself over the last fifty years as a globally recognized institute in economics and its teaching programs in Economics and Business Studies have gained national and international recognition.
The President said that the present Government gives the highest priority to the development of higher education recognizing the fact that only knowledge, information and technology holds the key to success in the global economy.
He said that merely increasing the number of highly educated person was of little importance, it is the quality of our graduates, depth of their knowledge and their ability of application of their knowledge which was really important, he continued. The President said that the battle of life can not be won with wooden armor. It can be won with quality education and proper training.
The President also awarded PhD, M. Phil, Masters and MBAs degrees to the successful graduates.
While addressing the 2nd Convocation of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here at Aiwan-e-Sadr Thursday, the President said that Energy shortage, circular debt, taxation reforms, restructuring of public sector entities, and documentation of the economy were among the critical issues of the country’s economy and the Government was seeking to build consensus around these major economic challenges. He called upon the economists to make concrete suggestions for addressing these economic challenges to put the economy on solid footings.
According to the prepared text, the President said that the Government inherited an ailing economy which suffered heavy toll due to war against extremism, on one hand, and the unprecedented floods on the other. The floods brought untold suffering to 20 million people and caused a loss of US$10 billion the Pakistan economy, the President said.
However, he continued, we took the economic challenges head on. He said that a plan for economic revival has been drawn up and the Government was aiming to reducing non-development expenditure to cut expenses, reforming the power sector, restructuring the public sector enterprises, incentivize remittances and developing special programs for poverty alleviation.
He said that he believes that one way to address the economic issues and to gear up economic development was to incentivise economic initiatives. On this the President noted that the foreign remittances in 2007 stood at 6.4 billion dollars which have been considerable increased by following policy of offering incentives on foreign remittances. This year, the President said, we hope that our foreign remittances will reach 11 billion dollars mark.
He said that the Government gave incentives to farmers and as a result Pakistan became a wheat exporting country from a wheat importing country in 2007. This year 600,000 tons of wheat has already been exported, the President told the gathering. He said that we can also increase our tax revenues and collection of sales tax by giving incentives.
The President also said that another important aspect in strengthening of the economy was ensuring the continuity of economic policies. He said that the energy sector had suffered most seriously because of the thoughtless reversal of the energy policies of mid 90s. The President said that keeping in view the crucial role of continuity of policies in the economic sphere he had called for a dialogue including all political parties and stakeholders and called upon the business community to provide ownership to the economic policies so that they were not reversed merely of political reasons.
The President said that the Government believes that the objective of a growth strategy must be social and human uplift. That is why, he said, PPP Government especially focused on drawing people out of poverty cycle of generations. He said that a special poverty alleviation program that enjoyed the credibility of donors both with the country and abroad was needed to provide social cover to the poorest of the poor.
He said that it was a matter of great satisfaction that Benazir Income Support Program has been a great success that provides direct income support to poor households. The President said that over 74 billion rupees have been disbursed to the poor beneficiaries, through BISP. A scheme of soft loans, of up to 300,000 rupees for setting up of small businesses, has also been launched. He said that BISP has provided relief to over 4 million poor families, including IDPs, flood victims and the victims of bomb blasts.
The President hoped that these initiatives under the umbrella of BISP will empower poor households with education and skills.
The President also recounted many other achievements of the present government vis--vis economic situation. He said that the Government and the leadership realized the fact that it is their responsibility to take tough decisions--and tough decisions we have taken, he continued. The President said that in order to cut down expenses, the government reduced the cabinet size.
President said the subsidy regime has been rationalized and tax reforms have been introduced to mobilize resources. He also said that the tax net was being expanded, through introduction of the Reformed General Sales Tax. He said that we have devolved financial powers to provinces and gave the 7th NFC award after a gap of 19 years which has resulted into transferring over 300 billion rupees of additional revenues to the provinces. He also said that the provinces have been given the right to collect GST on Services.
He said that as a result of tough decisions the economy has turned around and has shown signs of recovery. He said that the Government hopes to achieve a positive economic growth of 3 - 4 percent during this year. Our exports are expected to increase by 25-30 percent to US$ 24 billion, the President hoped terming this as a record. The foreign reserves, he said, are 17.5 billion dollars which is also a record.
The President said that we had to take difficult political decisions to bring the economy back on track. We also must realize that difficult decisions, that we have to take, have to be taken together, the President emphasized. He said that this was the reason for which he has called upon all political parties to join hands and arrive at some consensus on economic policies just as we were able to arrive at consensus on constitutional reforms.
While lauding PIDE for achieving academic excellence and appreciating the talent of Pakistani economists, the President said that PIDE has established itself over the last fifty years as a globally recognized institute in economics and its teaching programs in Economics and Business Studies have gained national and international recognition.
The President said that the present Government gives the highest priority to the development of higher education recognizing the fact that only knowledge, information and technology holds the key to success in the global economy.
He said that merely increasing the number of highly educated person was of little importance, it is the quality of our graduates, depth of their knowledge and their ability of application of their knowledge which was really important, he continued. The President said that the battle of life can not be won with wooden armor. It can be won with quality education and proper training.
The President also awarded PhD, M. Phil, Masters and MBAs degrees to the successful graduates.
