Daily Times

The Ministry of Finance and Revenue on Saturday released a report titled “75 Years Economic Journey of Pakistan” in order to present the details of economic advancement of the country since emerging on the global map.

The report also aiming at to highlight the major events occurred since independence, which significantly shaped the economic contours of the country. In his message, Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said that the dearth of resources to meet the local needs after independence was not a secret as India refused to give due share of its wealth to Pakistan soon after its birth. The severely disrupted country’s economic system along with settlement of the refugees were major challenges faced by the newly born country, he said adding that however Pakistan’s economy quickly revitalized with the hard work and determination of its people.

He said that a country with 30m population in 1947 could not feed its population and had to import most of its food requirements from abroad, adding that today, local agriculture production has risen significantly and Pakistan was producing over 26.4m metric tons of wheat annually as compared the total output of 3.4m tonnes in 1948, besides cotton attaining a level of more than 8.3m bales in 2022 compared to 1.2m bales in 1948. The sugarcane production, he said has reached to 88.7m tonnes in 2022 as compared to 5.5m tonnes in 1948 and rice output was recorded at 9.3m tonnes during 2022 as against the total production of 0.7m tonnes in 1948, the minister added.

Finance Minister said that Pakistan constructed both large and small dams like Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam, which increased the water storage and availability to 131.0 MAF in 2022 from 63.9 MAF in 1965-66, adding that it helped in achieving sustain agriculture sector growth in the country. He said that Pakistan emerged as one of the leading world exporters of textiles, pharmaceutical goods and food related items and economic policies of the successive governments have promoted industry, agriculture and services sectors.

The perseverance of its people made Pakistan the world’s 24th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and 44th in terms of Nominal GDP, he said adding that in fiscal year 1950, the Nominal GDP was Rs10.1b about $3.0b whereas, GDP per-capita was Rs286 with a population of 35.3m. In Fiscal Year 2022, Nominal GDP stands at Rs66,950b or $383b whereas, per-capita income has reached at $1,798 in 2022, he said adding that the country successfully established its trade and economic ties with different countries and entered into several global trading arrangements like WTO, SCO, WCO, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, bilateral and multilateral agreements including EU-GSP Plus scheme. Miftah Ismail said that all these successes were possible due to dedication, hard work and resilience of people of Pakistan, adding that enhanced economic governance have paved the way for a prosperous and strong Pakistan.

He further said that given the current economic fundamentals and sound economic policies being adopted by the present government, country was all set to become an economic power house of the world. Meanwhile, Federal Secretary Ministry of Finance Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh said that the 75 years journey of Pakistan was a story of economic, political, social and regional events that has shaped the country that we live today. He said that several boom-bust cycle, political crises and myriad geo-strategic challenges have guided our policies and program. Today, he said Pakistan was ranked among 50 leading economies of the world with GDP amounting $383b, adding that it also established its vibrant banking system that supported economic development over the years.