Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal Said Corruption Does Not Affect Pakistan Economic Development
On Monday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal stated that corruption was not the fundamental impediment to Pakistan’s economic growth, citing instances of nations that advanced despite the same levels of corruption.
The PML-N leader stated that “political instability and policy reversals” were much more significant hurdles to Pakistan’s prosperity than corruption.
“The main lesson today is that I can identify many nations in the world that have evolved while having similar corruption as ours, but you can’t point to a single country that has progressed despite political instability and policy discontinuity,” he remarked at a conference in Islamabad.
Iqbal cited Bangladesh and India as examples of countries that have grown despite having corruption problems comparable to Pakistan’s.
He stated that there was a “structural issue” that was preventing Pakistan from taking off, and that reforms would take “at least a decade” to fully implement. No decent measure would deliver benefits if there was no continuing in direction for ten years, he noted.
“We have failed to sustain policies in this nation, and one of the main reasons for this is our internal political situation.”
According to Iqbal, solid budgetary discipline and economic management were necessary for Pakistan’s economic success.
“We need to shift to export-led growth,” he added, adding that Pakistan lags behind countries in the region because its tax-to-GDP ratio has never been more than 12%.
He bemoaned the fact that Pakistan’s exports lagged behind those of its neighbours.
According to the planning minister, current foreign direct investment is only $1.5 billion, compared to $30 billion in Vietnam.
He also stated that Pakistan’s savings to investment ratio were extremely low.
According to Iqbal, Pakistan has not prioritised human resource development, and the ideal of economic prosperity cannot be realised with low education levels.
“We need to educate and train our young.” We gained international recognition as a result of the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) initiative. “The entire globe wants to invest here,” he explained.
According to the planning minister, in order to balance its annual budget, Pakistan must shift to export-led development in order for the economy to become sustainable and inclusive.
