Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced a whopping Rs 180 billion package to boost the country’s export sector over the next five years.The package will mainly cover the textile sector while four other beneficiaries of the package are leather, carpets, sports and surgical sectors. The exports have been falling since the government took over in 2013. The exports reached $24.5 billion during 2012-13, but were dropped to $20.8 billion in 2015-16 despite the government managed to get Generalised System of Preferences status from the European Union.Most of the industries at home face overlapping taxes, energy shortage and tough competition in the international market.
Announcing the package, the prime minister also allocated Rs 110 billion to acquire land for the Bhasha dam which will have the capacity to produce 4,500MW electricity. He also claimed that the electricity tariffs have been brought down by 26 percent since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government took over in 2013. He also hoped that another 10,000MW will be added to the system by 2018 and generation would go up to 30,000MW over the next few years. If the country is able to produce electricity to cater to the needs of its industrial sector, no one can stop the rising rate of economic growth. The continuous political chaos in the country and terrorism have played damaging roles in the economy despite inflow of massive Chinese investment in the economic corridor. All the indicators show positive side of the economy, but the country could not achieve the GDP growth at desirable level. Apart from internal conflicts and political upheaval, the country is classic example of administrative failure where the government has failed to implement its writ in various sectors. The departments and agencies are the victims of monotony and no step has been taken to increase the moral of the officials to carry out their duties with national zeal.
The economy of Pakistan gets support from billions of dollar remittances sent by the expatriates, but real growth comes from business and industrial sectors. The remittances are subjected to rise and fall with changing circumstances and cannot be trusted to lay down the foundations of the economy solely on them. However, it is the routine in the country to blame the previous governments for every woe facing the nation. Instead of revisiting the past mistakes, the government policymakers should look toward the future. It is hoped that the new package will be implemented with national zeal to enhance the exports of value added goods. The government should discourage the export of food items which is the right of this nation and should be abundantly available within the country. All the government concentration should be on the export of finished products.
