Apex Committee meeting chaired by the Prime Minister expressed determination to take tough decisions in the interest of the country
The Army Chief expressed his full support for the measures to restore the country’s economy, the statement continued
SIFC is the way forward in difficult times, Shahbaz Sharif
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
A meeting of the Apex Committee of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (IFC) was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the declaration of which has been issued. Munir, the outgoing and new federal cabinet, chief ministers and other government officers participated. The committee was briefed on SIFC’s initiative and investment in the country. During the meeting, Shahbaz Sharif said that SIFC is the way forward in difficult times, such iron determination is needed to serve the country. As never before, work as a cohesive team to maintain the momentum of economic stability. The prime minister also instructed the federal cabinet to keep political differences aside. During the meeting, Army Chief General Asim Munir expressed his determination to fully support and assist in the measures to restore the country’s economy. He also openly praised the leadership of the Prime Minister on the launch of IFC and the Apex Committee emphasized on moving forward with consensus to overcome the challenges facing the country. Earlier, while addressing a special meeting of SIFC’s Apex Committee, Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif described the Special Investment Facilitation Council as an important platform for solving the challenges faced by the economy and promoting investment. He said that we are all united for the security and development of the country, the federation and the provinces must work together for the development and prosperity of the country, the economy cannot be strengthened without basic structural reforms, three to four trillion rupees annually. 2700 billion rupees revenue related cases are in the courts, the revolving debt of electricity and gas sector has reached 5 trillion rupees, 1.10 billion next month after the staff level agreement with the IMF. The dollar installment will be released, the burden of bitter and tough decisions will not be put on the poor people, but on the elites. The presence of the elected chief ministers, ministers, government officials, army chief and their team here is a message to the entire nation that we have our own manifesto and our own priority but we are here today for the development, prosperity and unity of Pakistan. The Prime Minister said that I want to thank the former Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar and his team for working with great responsibility and hard work during the interim government, as well as Army Chief General Asim Munir and his team. I am also deeply grateful to him, just as he provided full support and help during our 16-month government, he also showed support in the national interest during the caretaker government, which is exemplary. The Prime Minister said that The Special Investment Facilitation Council was established in June 2023. There are three or four major reasons for its establishment. There were difficulties and challenges regarding investment within and outside the country. The power lords and government officials could not solve it, the issues related to NAB are known to all and the red tape had unfortunately become a chain on our feet, besides lack of capacity and incompetence were also big challenges. . The Prime Minister said that Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir has played a key role in the establishment of SIFC and assured full cooperation for the work that no one has done before. The Prime Minister said that the economy is facing huge challenges. , SIFC Apex Committee has held 9 meetings in 8 months, apart from this, the Executive Committee has also held several meetings, more than 200 meetings have been held at the working level, as a result of which many concrete decisions were taken and on them. Implementation has also taken place, SIFC is an important platform, the delaying tactics used in the past and files being moved around to save lives have been stopped. The Prime Minister said that when the 13-member coalition government came to power in 16 months, the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. Bi agreement has been reached, I congratulate caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar and his Ministry of Finance for implementing this agreement, which has resulted in a staff level agreement with the IMF. That the installment of 1.10 billion dollars will be received from the IMF next month. The Prime Minister said that this is not our goal, we have to bring economic stability to the country and strengthen the stability at the macro level and it is decided that a And without the agreement, we cannot survive, but the question is whether it will bring economic stability and our growth rate will start increasing and a revolution of prosperity will come in the country, it needs to be understood in the right context. Is. The Prime Minister said that the duration of one more program that we need may be two or three years, in which we have to introduce basic structural reforms, without it, economic development will remain a dream. The Prime Minister said that If we do not make fundamental reforms, structural changes and complete digitization of FBR, it will be difficult to achieve the economic targets. The revenue collection target for the current financial year is Rs. According to estimates, our revenue should be 9 trillion to 14 trillion rupees, the difference of three to four trillion rupees and it is being lost due to various reasons, everyone knows the reasons for this, except FBR. Or the value of the clients’ claims is also about Rs 2.7 trillion, one trillion cases are pending in the tribunals, apart from the cases pending in the Appellate Courts and High Courts, if we recover even half of that amount. If we take it, more than 1300 billion rupees can be collected, this is not an insignificant amount, fundamental reforms are indispensable for macro stability. Debts will decrease. The Prime Minister said that at present there is a coalition government in the federation, governments of different parties have been formed in the provinces, we have to work together, the federation cannot do anything alone, we have to move forward together with the provinces for economic development. There will be difficulties and challenges on the way, there is a storm of inflation, the poor man is caught in inflation, all these issues are before us. The Prime Minister said that the revolving debt of the electricity and gas sector has reached 5 trillion rupees. This process has been going on for 76 years. No single government can be held responsible for this. These problems can be solved together. We have to put aside personal differences and give priority to national interest, we will reach our destination soon. The Prime Minister said that the steps taken by the caretaker government regarding SIFC are of great importance 87 billion rupees electricity theft has been avoided. The measures that have been taken have also benefited the country, like EXIM Bank was started, progress was made on land management system, transaction of heavy electrical complex was completed, billions of rupees are being lost due to state-owned enterprises. , the debt of PIA alone has reached 825 billion rupees, there is widespread mismanagement and corruption in distribution companies. Billions of dollars worth of contracts were also made with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, progress was also made on tight gas policy, brownfield refineries upgradation policy, and the supervisory government has also worked a lot on seed reform because fake seeds are in our country. And policies were made to prevent the sale of drugs and all these steps have been taken under SIFC. The Prime Minister said that I have told all the Safras that I have met that we should not get into more loans and rollovers, we want you to invest in Pakistan, for this the government will give full support. He said that a lot of work has been done on outsourcing of airports and privatization of PIA, all this has become possible because the national interest has been given priority. He said that we will have to make very bitter and tough decisions in the future, but the burden of these decisions should fall on those classes who can bear this burden. And continue to get subsidies and the situation of the poor man, unemployment has increased in the country, everyone is aware of the situation, the poor man is already suffering from inflation, he has to be protected, by issuing instructions to the finance minister in this regard. He has given that the future budget should be made keeping in mind all these goals. The Prime Minister said that by keeping our egos and differences aside, we have to bring the country to the position for which millions of people sacrificed their lives. The prime minister said that he paid tribute to the former caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq Kakar, his cabinet and government officials for taking great measures to improve the country’s economy during the caretaker period.