PM vows to rid country of loans, put on track of self-sustainability

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday said that the government had established a robust mechanism in form of the Special Investment Facilitation Council to attract investments with a view to do away with the “addiction” of borrowings and put the country on the course towards self-sustainability.

The prime minister, addressing the participants of the third meeting of International Partners Support Group (IPSG), said the government had chalked out an economic revival plan. Its implementation would require foreign investment and technical support from the friendly countries to enhance per acre yield of wheat, sugarcane and other commodities and focus on other areas of action.

He thanked the member countries and organsiations for supporting Pakistan amidst the difficult time of unprecedented floods and told them the people still awaited return to their homes as they lacked funding to rebuild the destroyed houses. This shows the severity of the challenge which required untiring efforts by the government, friendly countries and the international partners to help Pakistan build climate resilient infrastructure.

The prime minister thanked and appreciated the federal ministers for planning, climate change, finance, economic affairs and foreign affairs and their teams for reaching out to the international community and organise Geneva Conference and where international commitment were made.

He told the participants that the country had been facing economic challenges like international inflation in terms of crude oil and commodities prices.

He said as the government had reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it would strictly abide by it without any deviation.

He said his government’s term was about to end by the next month, the upcoming interim government would also surely be adhering to the IMF deal as the first tranche had already been received.

He thanked the friendly countries and IMF Managing Director for helping Pakistan to reach the $3billion agreement for a nine-month period.

He said the SIFC would focus on promotion of agriculture sector and introduction of value added products which would obviously require an infrastructure to be built from the investment from Gulf nations, America, North America or any other country desiring to invest.

Besides, the Council would also help promote the IT and mining sector as the country was rich with immense potential in both sectors.

Prime Minister Shehbaz assured the meeting that every penny coming from the donors for the rehabilitation of the flood victims would be spent transparently.

He directed the relevant authorities that transparency should be given key importance in the rehabilitation and reconstruction projects of flood affected areas. Third party validation should be ensured in every project, he directed.

In the meeting, progress on flood recovery in Pakistan was reviewed. The prime minister appreciated the important role of IPSG in increasing cooperation as well as for climate resilience projects.

It was told that $657.5 million were estimated to be received by June 30, 2023 under the pledges made for various projects during the Climate Resilient Pakistan Conference, while $715 million have been received from donors and friendly countries for these projects. During the current year 2023-24, around $913.5 million will be spent on construction and rehabilitation projects in flood affected areas under the donors support.

The meeting was further informed that 19 projects have been designed for flood prevention and rehabilitation of victims, including eight for Sindh, seven for Balochistan, three for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one for the whole of Pakistan.

The meeting was told that 64 percent of the money received for relief work was being spent in Sindh.

It was told that $16.2 billion was estimated for reconstruction under the 4-RF (4RF), of which $8.15 billion are being funded by the federal and provincial governments through PSDP and ADP, while the matching amount will be provided by friendly countries and international organizations.

On this occasion, UNDP Resident Coordinator Samuel Rizk said that one year had passed since the disastrous floods in Pakistan and the presence of all partners to review the progress of the rehabilitation works was welcoming.

He said the rehabilitation of flood affected areas was possible only with the cooperation of all partners and UNDP would continue to play its full role in this regard as the Secretariat of the International Partner Support Group.

Federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Sherry Rehman, Minister of State Hina Rabbani Khar, Special assistants Tariq Fatemi and Tariq Bajwa, representatives of UNDP, World Bank, European Union, ADB, IMF, USAID, and diplomats from America, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Canada, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Azerbaijan, Italy and Norway, and other relevant high officials participated in the meeting.