Pakistan Army Chief given formal role in economic revival of the country
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ISLAMABAD – The coalition government has decided to establish a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to attract foreign investment with Pakistan Army giving a formal role.
During a high-level meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif informed the participants about the decision. The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, federal and provincial ministers, and other high-level government officials.
The Pakistan Army has been given a formal seat at the economic table as it will be national coordinator for both apex and executive committees of SIFC. Furthermore, army chief will be member of apex committee while army official will be appointed as director general of implementation committee.
The decision to focus on foreign direct investment was made as the South Asian country faces economic challenges amid delay in revival of the IMF loan programme.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, PM Shehbaz said he has fervently advocated a unified approach to steer the country out of the economic challenges and put it on a path to sustainable growth.
In his tweets on Wednesday, he said employing a whole of the government approach, the coalition government has decided to set up SIFC with a mandate to frame economic policies that ensure policy predictability, continuity and effective implementation to revive the economy.
Shehbaz Sharif said the need for a representative forum has long been felt given the scale of the economic challenges caused by internal and external factors.
He said the textbook approach to deal with a unique set of problems is not workable anymore. He said there is a reason to leverage collective wisdom to kick start the economy to make itself reliant, export driven, robust and capable of withstanding external shocks and upheavals.
The premier said creative ideas offer the solution to our economic problems.
