ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said Pakistan was set on track of sustainable growth and was ready to do business with the world.
“Pakistan with its sixth largest population in the world, 80 million middle class, blessed with human and natural resources, strategically located, politically stable, offering attractive policies is a destination no global player can miss,” the Prime Minister said in a meeting with heads of international organizations, here at the PM Office .
The group of corporate leaders that attended the meeting belonged to the Untied States, Australia, China, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland.
The Prime Minister urged upon the foreign businessmen to avail the country’s investment potential and “enjoy the first mover’s advantage”.
Nawaz Sharif apprised the businessmen that Pakistan’s economic conditions were improving continuously with an objective to achieve five percent GDP growth rate from the current three percent.
He said the government was aimed at achieving sustainable economic growth and mentioned several steps taken in this regard including strengthened tax administration, rationalize untargeted annual subsidies and widened social safety nets.
He said these steps reinforced macroeconomic policies, which resulted in lower budget deficit, increased foreign exchange reserves, and low spending on energy subsidies.
The Prime Minister said the government was cognizant of the need for a comprehensive and contemporary policy framework that supported macroeconomic stability.
“We are well aware that international investors need stable markets backed by clear and consistent policies. We are committed to maintaining an enabling policy framework to attract foreign direct investment,” he said.
He said the Vision 2025 mapped Pakistan to join the top 25 economies in the world leading to Upper Middle Income country status by 2025.
He said the country’s economy was targeted to grow over 8 percent between 2018 and 2025 while maintaining a single digit inflation.
He mentioned that PricewaterhouseCoopers had placed Pakistan at 20 in its projected list of 32 most powerful economies of the world in 2030.
The Prime Minister said as a result of sustained commitment to reform, key economic indicators had improved since the government was elected in 2013.
Over the past three years, the government brought down the fiscal deficit from 8.6 to 4.2 percent, increased Tax to GDP ratio from 9.8 to 12.4 percent and investment to GDP ratio from 14.9 to 15.2 percent, he added.
He mentioned that inflation had been contained which had earlier touched 1.6 percent in October 2015 and had remained well under 3 percent since then.
He said industrial sector showed remarkable performance and registered a growth of 6.8 percent during 2015-16 and was poised to do even better this year and onwards.
