Islamabad - The fourth term of the PML-N government will place Pakistan at a prominent position among the largest world economies, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar claimed yesterday.
“The international financial institutions have forecasted that Pakistan will be 18th largest economy in the world by 2050. With the policies and vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, this position could be attained in half time,” Dar said, while addressing a signing ceremony between Bait-ul-Maal and Microsoft, in connection with providing computer training to female students of government-run charity centres.
The finance minister, in his keynote address, outlined a broad vision for his government’s work. He said the policies of Nawaz Sharif’s government saved the country from bankruptcy in 2014, and due to the vision of the incumbent government, foreign reserves will soon reach $21 billion.
“Power deficit cannot come to end with some on and off switch; we have initiated power projects of 25,000MW, whereas the total power deficit is only 6000MW,” he said.
Brushing aside the reports of civil-military differences, Dar said the PML-N was deeply committed to supporting the counter-terrorism battle and had set aside resources to strengthen the communities capitalising on the army’s success. Dar said his government allocated a huge budget for the ongoing operation against terrorism in the tribal areas and praised the role of army in combating terrorism.
“Terrorism has been going on since decades, but no government dared to initiate any action in tribal areas; it is the PML-N government which not only initiated the military operation in the tribal areas, but also successfully eliminated sanctuaries of terrorists,” Dar said, adding it was the commitment of PML-N leadership that the PM himself visited troubled areas frequently.
The finance minister insisted the government had made a wide variety of investments in strengthening social networks. “We first initiated social safety network and increased its budget to many folds; we have increased the budget of Bait-ul-Maal by 100 percent,” he said.
IT State Minister Anusha Rehman said the ruling party was taking steps to empower women. “Our government is committed to an all-inclusive society with enhanced empowerment of women through a well-structured enabling environment that could guarantee their financial autonomy,” Rehman said.
The Bait-ul-Maal chief, in his speech, paid rich attributes to the PML-N government, adding Bait-ul-Maal was initiated by the Nawaz government in 1992.
The event to provide training of Microsoft to several hundred under-privileged girls was organised in a spacious hall of a local five-star hotel and attended by dozens of diplomats, notables and officials.
Dar, a PML-N stalwart, highlighted his government’s performance, a day after Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan presented his ministry’s performance report during the parliamentary session Thursday.
Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, known to be close to GHQ, asked other ministers to follow him by announcing performance of their respected ministries.
The third tenure of the PML-N government is also facing severe criticism over the charges of massive corruption, obtaining heavy loans from international institutions on strict conditions, high inflation, shrinking job opportunities and apparent failure to meet the growing energy deficit. In 1999, the PML-N government was sacked over similar charges by the then army chief.