File photo of P.M. Sharif, courtesy PID
Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders on Tuesday united in devising an “economic revival plan” to tackle prevailing financial hardships and capitalize on “untapped potential in key sectors” by attracting foreign direct investments.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said the decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by Army chief Gen. Asim Munir, the chief ministers of all four provinces, federal and provincial ministers, and high-level government officials. It said the plan called for utilizing the “untapped potential” of defense production, agriculture/livestock, minerals/mining, I.T. and energy through “indigenous development as well as investments from friendly countries.”
To facilitate investment, it said, a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) would be established to act as a “single window” interface for all potential investors and unify the process. The SIFC, it said, would improve the ease of doing business, reducing bureaucratic red-tape, by synergizing the efforts of the center and provinces; facilitating timely decision-making; avoiding duplication of effort; and ensuring swift project implementation.
“The high-ranking participation from federal and provincial governments clearly manifests the national resolve to turn around the economy despite all odds,” read the statement. Citing the prime minister, it said he had recalled that the incumbent government had inherited an economy on the brink of collapse that had been steered toward growth with “bold and difficult” decisions. However, he stressed, there were massive challenges ahead. “Export-oriented FDIs [foreign direct investments] hold the key to economic revival,” he said, explaining this was why a whole-of-government approach had been adopted to ensure effective implementation and execution.
Stressing that investors would be prioritized and granted speedy approvals, Sharif said the expected investments would create jobs and livelihoods for youth and women to realize their full potential. “We can transform the destiny of Pakistan and its people,” he said, while emphasizing that this would require hard work and consistency of policies to achieve progress and development. “Pakistan and Pakistanis deserve nothing less from those who have been bestowed the responsibility to administer the country by Almighty Allah and the people of Pakistan,” he added.
The Chief of Army Staff, meanwhile, assured the Army’s full support to complement the government’s efforts for the Economic Revival Plan, describing it as fundamental to the socioeconomic prosperity of Pakistanis and the reclamation of the country’s rightful stature among the comity of nations.
In a subsequent posting on Twitter, the prime minister said he had “fervently advocated” a unified approach to steer the country toward sustainable growth. The SIFC, he wrote, would frame economic policies that ensured policy predictability, continuity and effective implementation to revive the economy. “By virtue of its composition, the SIFC will serve as a top decision-making forum to push through fundamental reforms in the structure of the economy,” he said, stressing that one of the council’s key goals was to attracting investment from friendly countries. “The immediate task is to increase FDI to $5 billion,” he said.
“The need for a representative forum like the SIFC has long been felt, given the scale of the economic challenges caused by internal and external factors,” he said, noting a “textbook approach” to deal with prevailing challenges was no longer workable. “Hence, all the more reason to leverage collective wisdom to kick-start the economy to make it self-reliant, export-driven, and robust, capable of withstanding external shocks and upheavals,” he added.