ISLAMABAD
Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said that Pakistan is keen to settle the disputes with India so that the two countries can focus on building economic relations.
Speaking at the 3-day Sustainable Development Conference with the theme “Pathways to Sustainable Development” held under the auspices of SDPI here on Tuesday.
The Minister said economic recovery and prosperity of Pakistan will play an important role in the region. We are keen to settle our disputes with India so that the two countries can focus on building economic relations, he added.
Talking about the key achievements in a short period of eighteen months of the government, the Minister said that economic growth which had averaged around 3pc in the five years before our government has been estimated at 4.14pc during 2013-14 as per the provisional estimates, compared to 3.7pc in 2012-13. This is the highest growth in the last six years. Similarly per capita income which stood at $1340 in 2012-13 increased to $1386, showing a growth of 3.5pc. He said inflation which had averaged around 12pc in the five years before our government, was recorded at 8.6pc for 2013-14, despite undertaking significant fiscal adjustment and enhanced tax effort; during October 2014, CPI recorded at 5.8pc and during November 2014, it stood at 4.0pc - the lowest level in 11 years. Dar said that FBR revenues which had registered one of the poorest performances in the recent past of a meagre 3pc growth in 2012-13, were up by 16.44pc in 2013-14. During July-November 2014-15, FBR revenue registered a growth of 12.7pc over last year. The FBR revenue during this period recorded Rs 901.55 billion as compared to Rs 799.87 billion last year. Remittances were recorded at $6.078 billion during July-October 2014-15 against $5.276 billion in 2013-14, showing an increase of 15.21pc.
The Minister added that the government had made other important achievements also. These include raising of $2 billion through Eurobond after 7 years; raising of $1 billion through International Sukuk after 9 years; successful auction of 3G-4G licences. Nearly $1.2 billion were raised and two more licences are still available for auction. Then there has been resumption of programme lending by World Bank and ADB that has enabled us to access some $1.5 billion from these institutions during the year. He also hinted at construction of terminal at Port Qasim to import LNG, which will likely receive LNG soon.
The Minister said international think tanks and research groups have recognised Pakistan’s impressive economic turnaround in these past eighteen months. Jetro declared Pakistan as likely to be the 2nd choicest place for FDI; Goldman Sachs forecasted that Pakistan which is currently at 44th position would be world’s 18th largest economy by 2050; OICCI raised Pakistan’s index from negative 34 to positive 2; Moody’s raised our economic outlook from negative to positive; and in Neilsen’s Global Survey of Consumer Confidence, Pakistan’s index rose to 99 in the 1st Quarter of 2014 from the lowest level of 86 in the 3rd Quarter of 2011, Dar added.
We are expanding our economic ties with China by building the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will link Gwadar to Kashgar, both through railways as well as highways. In addition, MoUs have been signed with China for energy projects. In Afghanistan, we have supported the process of elections and welcomed the resolution of election dispute between the presidential candidates and eventual transition of power to new democratic government. We have also welcomed the signing of the US-Afghanistan Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) which, we believe, will contribute to stability in the wake of withdrawal of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) from Afghanistan.
Dar said likewise, Iran is a very important neighbour with whom we not only share a very long border but also like Afghanistan, strong cultural and religious ties. Pakistan will benefit immensely as it will pave the way for the construction of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, where India can also join eventually. We have concluded the 19th session of the Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission and took a number of decisions aimed at closer bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
The Minister said apart from contributing to regional economy through cooperation with its neighbours and regional countries, Pakistan is actively promoting a number of projects that would enhance regional connectivity and joint exploitation of regional resources. Three projects are notable in this regard. He said first, the CASA-1000 is the Central Asia South Asia electric power transmission project that will transmit already available surplus power to deficient countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The 1222 km transmission line, costing nearly $1 billion will originate in Kyrgyz Republic and pass through Tajikistan and Afghanistan and terminate in Pakistan. It will supply 1300 MW of power, 300 MW for Afghanistan and 1000 MW for Pakistan. Second, he said we are the central part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, which will supply natural gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Third, he said is the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) which is a partnership of 10 countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), supported by 6 multilateral institutions, working together to promote development through cooperation, leading to accelerate growth and poverty reduction. The priority areas of cooperation are transport; trade facilitation; energy and trade policy. Just a few months back, CAREC Ministers approved a $23 billion action plan for undertaking regional connectivity projects in the priority areas in member countries, Dar remarked.