Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the federal government has formed a body that will ensure policy predictability and effective implementation for economic recovery amid the severe financial crisis in the country.
As the crisis enters another year, the government is struggling to stabilize the country’s faltering economy through efforts to revive the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) program to secure external financing.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) will be mandated to formulate economic policies that will ensure predictability, consistency and effective implementation of the policy to revive the economy.
On Tuesday, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir on Tuesday assured all possible cooperation of the Pakistan Army to complement the government’s efforts to tackle the economic challenges facing the country.
I have fervently advocated a unified approach to steer the country out of the economic challenges on a path to sustainable growth. Employing a whole-of-the-the-government approach, the coalition government has decided to set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC)…
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 21, 2023
Following the development, Prime Minister Shehbaz said the decision to create the economic body was taken in light of the “unified approach” he was advocating to steer the country out of the economic storm.
“Due to its composition, the SIFC will act as a high-level decision-making forum to drive fundamental reforms in the structure of the economy.
“To begin with, the forum will focus on key sectors such as IT, agriculture, energy, minerals and mining, and defense production,” the prime minister said.
He explained that one of the main goals of the SIFC is to attract investment from friendly countries, with the immediate task of increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) to $5 billion.
Prime Minister Shehbaz added that the scale of economic challenges due to internal and external factors demanded a representative forum like SIFC.
“Textbook approaches to dealing with a unique set of problems are no longer viable. Hence, more collective wisdom is needed to make the economy self-reliant, export-oriented, and robust, externally resilient.” “There’s reason. Shocks and upheavals,” he said, adding that creative ideas offer solutions to our economic problems.
Addressing a high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz a day ago, COAS assured all possible support of the army to complete the government’s efforts for the ‘Economic Revival Plan’.
An official statement issued by the PM’s office said that Huddle unveiled a detailed ‘economic recovery plan’ in the wake of the economic woes facing the country.
Prime Minister Shehbaz recalled that his government inherited an economy that was on the brink of collapse. He said that with bold and difficult decisions it is now being led to progress and development.
