Daily Times

Pakistan is a country where the average income of the people is much lower than that of developed countries, the economy depends upon a few export crops and where farming is conducted by primary methods is called developing country. Rapid population growth is causing the shortage of food in many developing countries. Criteria to an Under-developed Nation is Potential to become economically developed, Low or no rising trend of per capita income, Countries very poor in resources. Due to political instability since last 3 months the inflation rate has been raised up and in country the price control committees are totally failed to monitor or maintain the fix prices. Everybody is trying his level best to be his own boss regarding selling those items which are the home to home commonly. And are the common utility full goods of a common man of Pakistan. To maintain these things and to make a little gap in high rated inflation it is not much easy it is really hard to equalize for in the favor of people but black marketer they try their level best to hold the money and artificial shortage always help them to enhance the rates of common things which are used by everybody. Backward industrial sector is an additional feature of under developed countries. Industrial sector of Pakistani economy is backward since independence. Pakistan got only 34 (3.7 % of total industrial units) industrial units out of 921 units in sub-continent in 1947. Small and backward industrial sector is based on low level of capital formation, technology, training and education and over dependence on agriculture sector. 13.7% labour force is attached with industrial sector in Pakistan. Its share to GDP is 25.4 % and to exports is more than 60 %. Due to backwardness, developing countries have to export raw material because the quality of their products is not according to international standard ISO etc. Lower developing nations have to import finished and capital goods. Imports of Pakistan are $ 33.15 billion and exports are $ 20.474 billion that cause into unfavorable balance of payment of $ 12.676 billion. High rate of inflation causes economic backwardness in poor nations. Due to high level of price, purchasing power, value of money and saving of the consumers tend to decrease.

On 1 August 2017, Mr.Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was elected as 28th Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly, defeating his rival Naveed Qamar of the PPP by 221 votes to 47. Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (F) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement also supported his election. Addressing the National Assembly after his election, he said, I may be here for 45 days or 45 hours, but I’m not here to keep the seat warm. I intend to work and get some important things done. On that same day, he was sworn in as the Prime Minister in an oath-taking ceremony at the Presidency Palace. and later he was confirmed as prime minister till june 2018 elections. In his first speech as Prime Minister, Abbasi announced that security, tax reform, agriculture, education, health services, infrastructure and development projects, and the country’s power crisis would be his top concerns. He vowed to continue the policies of his predecessor, In his maiden speech, Abbasi specifically promised to widen the tax net, saying “Those who do not pay taxes and live a luxurious life will have to pay taxes now. He also called for banning automatic firearms across the country and said the federal government would seize all automatic firearms if his cabinet was to approve.

In order to improve the governance and efficiency of the government and to accommodate newly inducted cabinet members, Abbasi created seven new ministries. Amongst which the establishment of the long-awaited Ministry of Energy was praised. The Ministry was part of government’s 2013 election manifesto. However its formation had been delayed. Abbasi kept the cabinet portfolio of Energy Minister for himself which was created through the merger of the power wing of the Ministry of Water and Power and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, an office Abbasi held before becoming Prime Minister. It was noted that formation of the Energy Ministry was the first step to solve the financial issues in the power sector after assuming the office of Prime Minister, Abbasi focus remained on energy sector and he took keen interest in the promotion of the LNG. Chairing the first meeting of the energy sector as Prime Minister, Abbasi directed to expedite conversion of furnace oil-powered power plants to natural gas and said that he would reduce the usage of thermal power plants and rely on the usage of domestic coal and regasified LNG for the production of energy in order to achieve a balanced energy mix.

As Prime Minister, Abbasi inaugurated two LNG regasification terminals at Port Qasim made to handle the imported LNG, for which he took credit as the former Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources taking the overall supply of LNG to 1200 million cubic feet per day. He recommitted his government to resolve the country’s energy crisis saying LNG was the only inexpensive solution to overcome the Pakistan’s crippling energy crisis. In December 2017, Abbasi as part of his government’s policy to promote usage of the liquefied LNG, ordered the conversion of four independent fuel-powered energy plants into LNG to reduce the cost of power generation, and imposed a ban on import of furnace oil to make maximum utilization of LNG powered-power plants. He also ordered revamping of the transmission and distribution system and directed to find a permanent solution to Pakistan’s chronic circular debt issue. To speed up the development of the construction projects related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Abbasi also kept the cabinet portfolio of Ministry of Planning and Development after becoming the Prime Minister followed by forming a cabinet committee on 31 August to hold more power which eventually made the role of ministry irrelevant over CPEC-related work. But after China expressed reservations, Abbasi on 16 September assigned the portfolio back to incumbent interior minister Ahsan Iqbal who headed the Ministry of Planning and Development in the previous cabinet. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi participated in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in January where he projected Pakistan as a prime destination for business, investment and trade. He also showed his intentions to hold this seminar soon in Pakistan so that the world would know how good we are as a nation or how better Pakistan is as a business destination.

The writer is Chairman Pakistan Columnist Council and can be reached at figure786@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, March 1^st 2018.