Pakistan ranked highest among emerging economies
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ISLAMABAD - The quantum of consumption in Pakistan is at ninety three percent of GDP, the highest among the emerging economies.
Minister for planning and development was addressing the inaugural session of a three-day 34th Annual General Meeting and Conference of Pakistan Society of Development Economists that began in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The Planning Minister said saving rate in Pakistan is less than half of other countries of the region. He said the growth strategy should focus on building the economic fundamentals, such as quality and inclusiveness of economic growth, human capital and sustainable agriculture.
The Minister said SME sector has been identified as one of the key sector of economic growth. He said the CPEC is an opportunity for Pakistan and China for growth and prosperity. Khusro Bakhtyar said the two countries are in effective collaborative arrangement that is beneficial for both countries.
The agriculture framework under CPEC focuses on joint ventures, value addition, cold chain management for fruits and vegetables, marketing and branding will help the country to overcome socioeconomic weaknesses. He said we need to increase saving while the balance between direct and indirect taxes is skewed toward indirect taxes.
The Minister said in the period of previous government the price of fuel went down making it easy to handle current account balance. The present government is trying to restructure the policies. He said the service sector now contributes to 56 per cent of domestic GDP but its share in exports is only 5 to 6 billion dollars, while our imports from China have reached 18 billion dollars.
He said the country needs to promote value addition and adapt import substitution policies and the government is devising policy packages for this purposes.
Planning Minister Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar says agriculture cooperation will be expanded between Islamabad and Beijing under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He was talking to Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan in Islamabad today.
The Minister said Chinese cooperation will be sought in improving the various sectors of agriculture field by enhancing cooperation in co-branding of products, post harvest promotion of commodities and establishing free zones.
