ISLAMABAD    -   PRIME Institute, an economic think tank, has held a press conference to launch its report on “Agenda for Prosperous Pakistan”. The agenda tracks the performance of federal government against PTI Manifesto 2018 on areas related to economic transformation. It also presents the way forward for PTI’s second year in power. Zia Banday, Joint Executive Director, PRIME Institute, in his welcome address informed the reporters on the background of the report. As a think tank, they are focusing on the government performances for the fulfillment of their economic agenda. In its election campaign, PTI has presented an elaborate economic manifesto. It has made number of pledges to the masses of Pakistan. This report from PRIME is an effort on objective analysis of economic performance of the PTI government.

Shehryar Aziz, the author of the report, gave a detailed presentation on the report. He highlighted the process of getting input from the government officials, business community, academia, think tanks and civil society in preparation of the report. He mentioned about 12-areas, which were covered in the prosperity agenda. He elaborated on the achievements of the government as well as marked the areas, where it is unable to make progress. It was mentioned that it is understandable that political parties, at times, make unrealistic election pledges that remain unfulfilled due to ground realities. For PTI government, meeting record revenue targets will be a major challenge. Government needs to enhance its engagement with the private sector in planning and implementing of its economic road map. Perception of slow growth needs to be countered with informing on structural reforms and inducing sustainable economic growth. Major government goals of creating 10 million new jobs, building of 5 million houses, boosting of tourism and management of SOEs requires deft handling and an efficient regulatory framework.

In the Q&A session, reporters raised the issues of resistance of bureaucracy to change, slowdown of economy, relief for the masses, increase in utilities tariffs and exports stagnation. PRIME remains of the opinion that Pakistan is a large country and PTI has first time taken over the reins of federal government. Its structural reforms focus is expected to slow down the economy in initial stage, as it is curbing down consumerist tendencies while clamping down on imports. Any bureaucratic resistance can only be overcome with steely political resolve with clear economic vision.

ShimailDaud, President, PRIME Institute, in its closing remarks did mention about PRIME’s engagement with the performance evaluation of government performances since 2013. He did highlight that PRIME’s focus has always remained in promoting economic policies that liberalize economy of Pakistan. He was of the opinion that regulatory bottlenecks and red tapism are some of the major causes for Pakistan’s low rankings on ease of doing business and economic competitiveness indices. On the global level, we face unprecedented challenge of a new Knowledge Revolution era, which is impacting the developing and developed world alike. He thanks all those who have contributed through feedback on this report.