Managing Exports Only Way To Achieve Sustainable Economic Growth: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2024) Federal Minister for Planning, reforms and Special Initiatives, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that managing exports are the only way to achieve sustainable economic growth in the country.

In a meeting with consultants from Kearney and officials from Public Private Partnership Authority, Minister Ahsan Iqbal discussed making a new economic vision in consideration with the 5Es framework,said a press release issued here.

He said that the framework made during the 16 month tenure of PMLN was introduced to pull the country out of serious economic crises.

The 5Es framework, approved by NEC in 2023, outlines national priorities in 5 key areas which will put Pakistan on a sustained growth trajectory.

"Our first priority should be to see how fast we can grow exports from 30 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars," stated the minister while highlighting the importance of setting goal based plans.

Citing the example of how competitive Pakistan's economy was in 1960s, the Minister said that in 1960’s Pakistan’s manufactured exports were 200 Million Dollars, South Korea’s were about 100 Million Dollars and Malaysia’s Exports were about 60 to 70 million Dollars while Thailand was about 30 million Dollars.

But due to political instability in the ensuing decades, Pakistan's economy started dwindling.

Emphasizing on the current economic state, he said that economy needs to be improved by leveraging our national goals. He said that reasonable infrastructure had been laid down in 5 years of the government's previous tenure. He added that the government, presently, is making ambitious plans to expand the country's exports.

He mentioned the under process initiative of a large multi modal transport system which will connect Pakistan to Central Asia. "Exploring new markets and building connectivity with those markets is part of our regional expansion plan."

Minister Iqbal further said that when basic fixes are done on macroeconomic side, steps should be done to attract more investment. "We need a macroeconomic structure totally geared towards exports. Unless we align our targets with increasing exports, we cannot become a competitive economy.

He directed Kearney to produce a comprehensive strategy aligned with 5Es framework and 5 year plan which would be unveiled next month.