‘Proper management and appropriate utilization of economic assets can lead to sustainable growth’

ISLAMABAD: Through proper management and appropriate utilization of country's assets economy could lead to sustainable economic growth, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan said Thursday.  "If we manage our assets properly and if we do so, the economy could perform very well," Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haq remarked in an interview with APP here.

He said that the Planning Commission of Pakistan was working on new growth strategy, core of which is bringing efficiency in the management and changing overall mindset regarding growth.

"Efficiency and productivity should be the focus of the new growth strategy," he added.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission  Dr Nadeem-ul-Haq said on Thursday that Rs 350 billion would be allocated for  socio-economic development in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2011-12.

Dr Nadeem-ul-Haq said that proper management and appropriate utilization of resources could lead to sustainable economic growth.

"If we manage our assets properly, the economy will perform well," he said.

He said that the Planning Commission of Pakistan was working on a new economic growth strategy, core of which lies in bringing efficiency in the management and changing overall mindset regarding growth".

"Efficiency and productivity will be the focus of new growth strategy," he added.

He opined that Pakistan was lagging behind in development due to static planning. "Planning is a continuous process which should take into account the changing trends".

He said that there was a dire need to change the mindset by making people understand new growth strategies instead of remaining stuck to the old ones. He added,"unless we change the mindset, we can not make any progress."

He said that under the growth strategy, the people would have to focus on the output of projects instead of their cost.

He said though there was a need for further development of infrastructure, but the exiting facilities were also not being used to their full potential."We have launched and completed many projects in every sector. The existing assets should be utilized properly for the country's development".

He stressed that the economic growth should be enhanced by to 7-8 per cent,which would generate employment for the younger generation. The  growth should be sustainable and not for a period of one or two years.

"High growth rate can be achieved for one or two years but we need to sustain it," Nadeem-ul-Haq added.

He said that the country needed deregulation to enhance markets.

He said that the job of government should be to regulate business and not to do the same.

To a question, he said that energy reforms were under way. The government had already taken steps to overcome the energy problem and would taken more measures in future.

He said that electricity generation was not the only solution of the problem but overcoming energy losses could help mitigate the shortfall also.

He regretted that in the past no attention was focused on the development of the cities to provide better civic services and facilities to the people.

To another question, he said that every country needed the  support of International Monetary Fund and Pakistan was no exception for economic growth.