ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday constituted a ‘core economic group’ headed by ex-finance minister Shaukat Tarin which will be comprised of independent economists and market experts to get the economy out of the crisis if the party gets another chance to come into power.
At a high-level meeting with PTI chairman Imran Khan in the chair, which was attended by PTI secretary general Asad Umar, ex-finance minister Shaukat Tarin, and other senior party leaders, the deteriorating economic situation, its causes, and possible solutions came under detailed discussion. The PTI chief directed the newly-formed economic group of the party to prepare a comprehensive roadmap to steer the country out of the prevailing economic crisis.
Tarin told the meeting that 17 sectors of the economy must be paid immediate attention to steer the country clear of the economic crisis due to the flawed policies of the incumbent regime.
The group will present its report to the PTI leadership on the economic cost of regime change, the current crisis, and remedial action plans, as well as, the estimated targeted subsidy for vulnerable sections if it comes into power.
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Tarin briefed the meeting about the strategy to put the country’s economy on the path of improvement and to protect the poor from the worst effects of economic disaster.
He highlighted 17 key economic areas which include fiscal, energy, industry, social sector, financial sector, commerce and exports, construction and housing, agriculture, tourism and blue economy, digitalisation, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privatisation, water and climate, sports, education, health, arts and culture, and science and technology.
The committee will task the experts-aided specialised teams having expertise in the respective field to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the challenge.
Tarin told the meeting that the overall economic situation is going from bad to worse as the incumbent regime has no plan to deal with the issues pertaining to the sinking boat of the economy.
The meeting expressed concern over skyrocketing inflation, economic contraction, rupee depreciation, poor supply chain management, and tough International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities that made it impossible for the common man to make both ends meet.
The PTI chief reiterated that a well-performing and booming economy was destroyed by imposing a “cabal of crooks” on the masses through a ‘foreign conspiracy’, which the nation will never forgive.
He said that a “coterie of thieves” played havoc with the economy as their sole purpose was not to give relief to the masses as they made it to the power corridors to get rid of their corruption cases worth billions of rupees.
He said that Pakistan’s economy had been stabilised after hectic efforts of his economic team after three-and-a-half-year hard work but everything was destroyed within a week by the “imported regime”.
He said that the only solution to cope with the challenge of economic crisis is political stability which can only be possible if free, fair, and transparent elections are held immediately.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022