Gilani lauds US confidence in economic system

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday appreciated the confidence of US government in Pakistan's economic system. Talking to a US delegation led by Senior Advisor to the US President David Lipton here at the PM House.
The prime minister hoped other donor countries will follow suit as his government had put in place third party verification and beneficiaries assessment, besides public disclosure of programme performance to increase donor and public trust in the utilisation of foreign assistance.
The prime minister said while the government was working hard to improve internal controls for transparency, the concerns should not become a pretext for withholding or stopping the much needed support, which has already been pledged by the donors to Pakistan.
In this context he added that the floods affected couldn't be made to wait for their early rehabilitation. He said the government had already drastically cut its development and non-development expenditure to divert the resources for providing succour and relief to the flood victims.
He said his government was committed to introduce and implement economic reforms. The Reformed General Sales Tax and flood tax measures had already been introduced and passed through the Senate and intensive consultations were now being held with major political parties of the country to build national consensus for their passage through the National Assembly.
The prime minister said political dialogue has been initiated over national challenges like governance, institution building and security situation of the country. He underlined that despite Pakistan's current economic difficulties, his government will remain steadfast in its commitment to war against terror.
David Lipton commended the prime minister for clearly communicating the message to the rest of the world that his government was not undertaking the reforms because the donor community so wanted but was doing it in the long term interest of Pakistan's economy. He said the US recognised government's efforts to overcome security and economic challenges and agreed with him that any economic strategy can only be palatable for the people in a democratic system when embedded into a political strategy.