Asim Yasin

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said Pakistan suffered a loss of Rs855 billion to the economy due to the worst floods last year.

“The worst affected sector was agriculture that suffered loss of around Rs429 billion, followed by housing (Rs135 billion), Transport and Communications (Rs113 billion) and financial sector (Rs57 billion),” the prime minister said in his opening remarks at the outset of National Economic Council that met here with his chair.

The premier, welcoming the participants of the annual NEC meeting, (NEC) said, “Since start of our government in 2008, we have faced serious economic challenges as the worldwide economic recession also caused slow down of our economic activities. However, our government has been able to restore and maintain economic stability in the country,” he added.

“At the onset of current fiscal year, we were looking forward to reap the benefits of economic stabilisation and to regain the momentum of economic growth to a higher level. We were unfortunately hit by the most devastating flood in the recorded human history. The flood spreading over 50,000 square kilometres affected around twenty million people in eighty two districts,” the prime minister said.

He said the Damage and Need Assessment Report, prepared by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, estimated an overall loss of around Rs855 billion to the economy due to worst flood last year,” he added.

The prime minister said to provide immediate relief to the affected people, we had to modify our priorities.

He said the federal government had to enforce a cut of Rs100 billion in its development budget. “The provincial governments also managed savings in their respective budgets to provide rescue, relief and rehabilitation work,” he added.

The prime minister said that a few persistent issues also caused slow recovery of our economy. Some of these are: power shortages, subsidies and resultant circular debt, and bleeding public sector enterprises.

However, he said on the external front, the country did make some important achievements as Pakistan’s exports during the current fiscal year are estimated to be around US $24.6 billion, which is the highest level in country’s economic history.

Similarly, the prime minister said, the country expect workers’ remittances around $12 billion, which is also a record. “We have been able to maintain a stable exchange rate and the current account deficit is estimated to be much lower this year inspite of high oil prices,” he added.

The prime minister said that our focus in future should be on private sector development by creating an enabling environment and necessary facilitation.

He said the New Growth Framework envisaged by the Planning Commission will play a pivotal role towards this end in collaboration with the provincial governments.

Referring to the next year’s PSDP, he said we should focus on completion of ongoing schemes so that people can benefit from our development programme without delay.

Gilani said he has been monitoring the performance of various sectors of economy and has been urging the Planning Commission to address regional in-equity and sectoral imbalances.

Therefore, he has asked the minister for finance and planning to make significant allocation to social sector programmes focusing on poverty alleviation.

He hoped that the upcoming proposals will adequately cater for underdeveloped regions including those of Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK and Fata.

Similarly, he expected sizeable allocation for high impact strategic projects such as Diamir-Bhasha Dam, nuclear power generation and National Highways.

The prime minister said that the Economic Growth Framework, Annual Plan 2011-12 and PSDP 2011-12 should be in line with the government’s policy of balancing economic stabilisation with growth.
Source: The News
Date:5/29/2011