KARACHI: A World Bank official on Thursday voiced optimism saying Pakistan could become a part of high-income bracket economies if its economy achieves a growth rate of eight percent.
A summit ‘Scaling the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ saw participation from various industries which included Patchamuthu Illangovan, country director Pakistan of the World Bank. The event was organized by Women Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).
Illangovan said if a country maintains 4-5 percent economic growth, then in next thirty-years half of its population wouldn’t be able to avail social benefits. He shared WB had been working in Pakistan since the last few decades in many areas of development, reported an English daily.
Cautioning about the 2.5 percent population growth in Pakistan annually, Illangovan said the country’s youth will have to face a severe crisis in job market. He suggested the government to undertake measures which would create opportunities for women entrepreneurs, invest in human capital skills and reduce gender gap.
Illangovan added government should prioritize spending on health and education sector to achieve targets for fourth industrial revolution.
Sindh’s Chief Minister, Murad Ali Shah while speaking at the summit said women had played an important role in economic growth and he shared its women development department had started various projects to remove impediments in women participation.
Shah added fourth industrial revolution had already made its impact felt globally as various sectors had moved over to knowledge-based technology. He shared provincial government had digitized many departments to help the local population.
United Nations Committee of Science, Technology and Innovation Chairman Attaur Rehman while gracing the occasion said the world is progressing and knowledge-based technology was disrupting traditional modes of work.
He added digital dressing, automatic healing, anti-aging and artificial sighting devices were commercially available. Rehman said China and Singapore achieved high economic growth solely through educating its youth.
Rehman regretted only one Pakistani university was ranked among top 500 universities of the world and said digital age was affecting the country and rise in usage of mobile telephony was a prime example of it.
