ISLAMABAD: Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal says the country’s growth rate has reached 5.8 percent, the highest in last 13 years, which vindicates that the government’s economic policies have put the country on the right track.
Speaking at the launch of Economic Survey 2017-18 in Islamabad this evening (Thursday) with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Miftah Ismail, he said the government could have achieved the target of 6 percent had the impediments not stopped the economic march of the government. The growth momentum had remained above 5 percent for the last two years in a row and reached 5.79 percent in FY2018, on account of a strong performance in agriculture, industry and services sectors which grew by 3.81 percent, 5.8 percent, and 6.43 percent, respectively, he said.
Giving an overall review of the government’s performance of the past five years, the Minister said the government successfully addressed the challenges of energy shortage, economic turmoil, and terrorism.
Ahsan Iqbal said the government has added 11000 MW of electricity to the national grid during the last four years, which helped overcome the energy crisis.
He said 1750 kilometers in motorway has made Pakistan the largest infrastructure economy in South Asia.
The federal minister further said that the growth rate figure was endorsed by the World Bank and other international organisations.
“Economics, I often say is not a homeopathic medicine that does not have side effects,” said Iqbal. “We had the possibility to resolve the power crisis in eight years and that could have given us a more stable macroeconomic plan but we had no choice because we needed growth and opportunities for the youth.”
The Economic Survey 2017-18 incorporates the latest figures incurred in the war against terror. Pakistan’s total losses after becoming part of the war might have crossed the $125 billion mark in the last 17 years as it stood at $123.13 billion till 2016-17.
