Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving no one Behind

Our savings poor and economy get heated, says Shaukat Tarin

ISLAMABAD (Dec 09): Mr Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, has said we are out of COVID now and last year our economy witnessed inclusive and sustained growth vital for overall development. He said in the past we have seen growth but it did not sustain because our savings are very poor and our economy gets overheated.

He was expressing his views on Pakistan’s Environmental Social Governance Dimensions: Securing Excess to Long Term Capital as chief guest on the concluding day of SDPI’s 24th sustainable development conference titled ‘Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving no one Behind’, in Islamabad today (Thursday).

He said the major area affecting our economy is trade gap. He said we did not pay any attention to our exports as in 2013 our exports stood at 25 billion dollars which declined during the later years. We have to reduce this import-export imbalance, he stressed, adding that the present government has adopted right approach which is bearing results as upsurge is being witnessed in our exports.

On production side, he said, it is not at the desired level and we need to focus three areas, revenue enhancement by improving Tax to GDP ratio, agriculture sector and the industrial sector.

He said another area is housing sector wherein over 40 industries are linked and this sector can have a multiplier effect towards development.

He said ow we have decided to adopt bottom up approach and Kamyab Jawan Programme would prove a milestone towards overall betterment in the society.

He said at the moment our economy is growing at over 5% but unfortunately due to global pricing issue a slowdown has been seen but it would not last long and in coming few months the situation will improve as the prices in the world market are gradually coming down.

He said several economic indicators including increased revenues reflect that our economy is growing. He said the PM is concerned about the predicament of lower and lower middle classes and the Ehsas Ration Programme would prove instrumental in this regard.

He said the corporate sector is flourishing and they need to share the profits with the less privileged. He said corporate governance needs to be further improved as it has great role in the country’s overall development.

Ms Sadia Khan, Commissioner SECP, stressed the need for adopting sound business practices. She said an enabling corporate environment is the need of the hour. The SECP, she said, is

providing guidelines in different areas including finance and environment for sustained corporate functioning.

Ms Ayla Majid said we are living in a very competitive environment in the context of the international market. She added that it is the great opportunity Pakistan to adopt the ESG framework. She mentioned that we need to see that our projects are aligned from the environmental perspective.

Dr Hina Aslam said the businesses which will not give due importance to SGDs will fall behind in the race of development, therefore, we need to adopt best practices to remain relevant and achieve the goal of sustained development.

Mr Hassan Daud Butt said we need fast and integrated development synergizing all areas. He said for socio-economic development sustained growth is a pre-requisite.

Dr Abid Q. Suleri said corporate governance can help us in achieving our goals and also shed light on gender significance and highlighted the significance of women participation in the country’s development. He also took stock of the conference during the its four days. He thanked the Prime Minister for acknowledging the services of the SDPI.

Earlier, Arif Masud Mirza on behalf of ACCA thanked the SDPI and the PM’s Advisor on Finance and Revenues.

Mr Muhammad Shamoon Tariq also spoke on the occasion.