By IINA,
Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt : Seeking investment in energy sector, Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani assured yesterday the investors that the new democratic government will fully facilitate the foreign investors. “I can assure you that the government will provide all facilities to investors, as we have to come in a big way to tackle the energy crisis,” he said while addressing a special session “Eye on Pakistan” of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, APP reported. The Prime Minister said it was the PPP’s government, led by Benazir Bhutto, which brought in the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the country and added 4000 to 5000 MW of electricity in the national grid.
He said the country’s future prospects can be gauged from its political, economic, security and social fundamentals. On political front Pakistan has successfully endured the struggle for democracy and is on the path of political stability. On economic front, the Prime Minister said, despite critical challenges most of the economic fundamentals have remained on track. Soon the political stability will have visible impact on further improving economic fundamentals, he added. On security, he said Pakistan believes in pursuing peaceful co-existence policy.
Domestically Pakistan has some challenges which the government is addressing through dialogue including eradication of the menace of terrorism. He said the government has come to power with a vision, determination, commitment and zeal to develop synergies among political, economic and social sectors and work for the prosperity of the people.
Gilani said he was confident that soon Pakistan would be on its path to development and prosperity. He said despite political and security challenges, economic fundamentals have been strong. “There is a sound economic foundation for the development of country and other financial indicators support this fact.” “Our foreign exchange reserves have increased, stock exchange has shown ten fold increase and 1.5 million Pakistanis have been brought out of the poverty line and public debt has halved. Pakistan’s position in terms of rich-poor disparity has improved”, he added.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan is a very attractive market for foreign investors. Around 700 foreign companies are operating in Pakistan while foreign direct investment during last year stood at 8.4 billion dollars. He said our manufacturing sector has shown sterling growth, agriculture sector has bounced back and telecommunication and IT sectors have taken a big leap. Gilani said attractive strategic location, a large market of 160 million population, politically stable and vibrant Pakistan offers attractive business potential for countries in the Middle East and north Africa.
State Bank Governor Dr. Shamshad Akhtar in her presentation said the quality of economic management in Pakistan has improved. She said along with rest of Asia, the country withstood lot of domestic and external challenges. She said Pakistan has withstood the domestic democratic transition, disruptions that it faced in one year and there will be a 6 percent GDP growth this year. She said the government is preparing a medium term economic program which is going to lay out five years of economic frame-work. It will be an attempt to consolidate the fiscal deficit and to manage the external account deficit. She said financial sector in Pakistan has been the best performer, adding, “today the non-performing loans are below three percent.