ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Wednesday stressed the need for separating politics from the economy, and continuity of policies to ensure sustainable development of the country.
The minister was addressing a session of three-day Islamabad International Counter Terrorism Forum (IICTF) organised by National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) on the topic – ‘Towards Progress of Pakistan.”
“This is time that all intellectuals pursue political parties to adopt common charter of economy,” he said, adding continuity of democratic set-up and policies was the way to lead the country towards progress and prosperity, and attain high growth rates. He said the country was facing both internal as well as external challenges.
On the external front, he said, enemies of the country were viewing China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from a perspective that it would make the country stronger and that was the reason they opposed it.
Otherwise, the CPEC project would benefit the whole region, he said and stressed the need of promoting regional growth instead of a specific country growth.
Talking about the economic performance, he said last year the country witnessed economic growth rate of 5.5 per cent after 10 years as it had remained between 3 to 4 per cent during the previous years.
He viewed that the country required 7 per cent growth rate to meet its requirements. Revenue collection had also witnessed growth and this year it was targeted at Rs4 trillion whereas energy shortage had been curtailed to a great extent while inflation was recorded at the lowest level of last 47 years, he added.
He said back in 2013, people were shifting their businesses, finances and industry to other countries, but due to prudent policies that turned around economy, the investors had come back.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Barrister Zafarullah Khan said there had been debate over whether economy control the politics and vice versa.
He, however, added that economy was very important as economic relations controlled social relations. He elaborated the concept of Karl Marx about the super structure.
He said Pakistan was created on the concept of social justice, adding the country had tried many economic models since its inception ranging from the nationalisation model to privatisation models.
On the occasion, Vice Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economic (PIDE) Assad Zaman said there was strong connection between peace and growth. If the defence expenditures of the world were spent on development, the world would virtually become paradise, he added.
He said peace provided gains and benefits and criticized media industry that was creating fabricated truths to serve the interest of some particular groups. All wars, he said, were created on deception, citing the example of weapons of mass destruction claims in Iraq.
