Islamabad: Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday stressed the importance of striking a balance between available resources and emerging needs to ensure sustainable economic growth and social prosperity in the country.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Poverty Estimation Training Series, the Minister emphasized that access to scientifically based data is essential for the effective and equitable allocation of dwindling resources, and is crucial to achieving equitable social and economic development and progress.
The Minister stressed that rapid population growth and rapid decline in resources are the main drivers of poverty and illiteracy and the main obstacles to economic growth and social prosperity. He noted that between 2017 and 2023, in addition to economic setbacks, the population growth rate also saw a significant rise.
Highlighting the economic performance of the current government, the minister said that the country’s inflation rate decreased from 38 percent to less than 7 percent, exports recorded growth, remittances increased, the stock market touched a historical high and the 100 index exceeded 100 thousand points. .
He said that these economic indicators show that the economy is heading in the right direction, which is the direction of progress and prosperity, adding that in order to achieve this achievement, the consensus government has burned its political capital and the nation has borne the burden of high inflation.
The minister stressed the need to strengthen the culture of tax compliance in the country to create more resources for development, and called for enhancing national industrial productivity to compete with global competitors, in addition to political stability to attract more foreign and local investments.
Ahsan Iqbal called for an end to political turmoil and the start of a long economic journey aimed at enhancing competition in enhancing national productivity and taking practical steps to eliminate illiteracy, poverty and ignorance in the country.