RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has said everyone needs to play their part for the success of government’s difficult economic initiatives for long term benefits, as he stressed “there could not be any sovereignty in the absence of economic sovereignty”.“We understand that government has gone for difficult but quintessential decisions for long term benefits and what we are doing is playing our part,” said the Army chief while speaking about the country’s current economic situation at a seminar at the National Defence University on Friday.The seminar on “Pakistan’s Economy: Challenges and Way forward” was organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis (ISSRA) at NDU.The Army chief endorsed the undeniable linkage between security and economy as both directly complement each other. He said there could not be any sovereignty in the absence of economic sovereignty.Gen Bajwa said: “We all need to fulfil our responsibilities in this regard so that these difficult initiatives succeed.” There were examples in the recent past when other countries also confronted similar challenges and they came out successfully after taking difficult decisions.He expressed confidence that Pakistan shall also, God willing, wade through those challenges. “In difficult times no individual alone can succeed unless the nation comes together unitedly,” he said, adding: “It’s time to be a nation,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted him as saying in a statement.Gen Bajwa said: “We are going through difficult economic situation due to fiscal mismanagement. We have been shy of taking difficult decisions. Armed forces played their part by voluntarily foregoing annual increase in defence budget and this is not the only step we are taking for improvement of economy.”The Army chief also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts for restoring regional peace that would lead to better trade connectivity. Talking about regional connectivity, he reiterated his vision that countries could not develop individually, it was the region which developed. “For our region to develop we need to have greater regional connectivity amongst all neighbours,” he stressed.A large number of economy experts, think-tanks and representatives of the business community attended the seminar. The seminar dilated on ways of overcoming the budget deficit, low tax collection base, circular debt, loss-ridden public sector enterprises, fiscal indiscipline, undocumented economy, weak institutional capacity, low exports, meeting federal obligations within existing NFC arrangements and the perceptions surrounding the prevailing economic environment.Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, in his keynote address, dilated upon reasons, which resulted into increasing those challenges. He counted perpetual security threats, inconsistent economic policies, poor economic discipline and lack of will to take difficult decisions in the past as major contributors to the economic situation the government was facing today.Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI); Almas Haider, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman, FBR; Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Principal and Dean, School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NUST) chaired and moderated the seminar.
06-29-2019, 12:09 PM
All must play part for fiscal initiatives? success: Gen Bajwa
العرض العادي
