Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formally unveiled the National Economic Transformation Plan 2024-29 on Tuesday called “Uraan Pakistan: Homegrown National Economic Plan”, with the promise to revive the country’s economy.

The five-year plan aims to address key economic challenges thro­ugh a targeted framework called the “Five Es” – Exports; E-Pakis­tan; Equity and Empo­werment; Environment, Food and Water Security; and Energy and Infrastructure.

In April, PM Shehbaz had called for the creation of a comprehensive five-year strategy to double the country’s exports and underscored the importance of a collaborative approach, asking the Min­is­try of Trade to devise the export strategy in consultation with successful entrepreneurs and stakeholders.

The ceremony to announce the plan was held in Islamabad today, with speeches by the prime minister, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.

Addressing the event, PM Shehbaz commended the presentations by the aforementioned ministers and said, “The crux is that in the last nine months, we negotiated huge challenges [and] difficulties and through untiring efforts of the federal and provincial governments and our partners in prosperity and progress, we have been able to achieve macroeconomic stability.

“But this is just the beginning of a long journey which would entail sacrifice, blood and sweat to achieve economic growth and find our lost place among nations,” he added.

The premier said achieving growth required everyone to come together to work and march forward with “unity of thought and action”.

The prime minister explained the challenges his government faced on the economic front when it came into power and said the country was forced to go for another programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said it was a moment to ponder why the country had to resort to another IMF bailout, pointing out losses of state-owned enterprises, the circular debt, and corruption.

Outlining how growth would be achieved for the economy, the prime minister said that inputs would have to be made cheaper, investment would have to be encouraged, and import curbs would have to be removed to encourage competition, efficiency, and export-led growth.

“Export-led growth is the ultimate saviour of Pakistan. You need to earn dollars that is only possible through exports,” he said, adding that the same was the central pivot for the new reform package as well.

The premier also stressed the need to promote and expand the digital and technology sectors, particularly the use and adoption of artificial intelligence.

PM Shehbaz went on to say there was a need to create political harmony to forward privatisation efforts to prevent losses. He said there was a need to reduce inefficiency in state-owned enterprises, pointing towards unsuccessful efforts to privatise the national carrier.

“We faced a setback in PIA’s privatisation. Facts should be accepted. There is no doubt our team made full efforts and we are doing so again,” he said.

The premier said the government would have to aim for an annual investment target of $10 billion, adding that this was “easier said than done”. He said foreign investment was only possible through facilitating local investment first, and that measures were being taken in this regard.

Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his message on Tuesday on the beginning of the new year, urged the nation to collectively strive for a better and stronger Pakistan in 2025 as the country overcome its daunting challenges of economic crises in 2024.

In PM’s office news release, the prime minister congratulated the entire nation on the beginning of the New Year.

“I pray that the sun of 2025 will rise with the promise of progress and prosperity for our country Pakistan. I also pray that in the New Year we correct our individual and collective mistakes committed in the past year and make a new beginning and start a new bright future,” he said.