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2009:
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Zardaris economic policies lowered inflation by 12 pc in 9 months:Article
2011:
Zardari for reforms to put economy on track | The Nation
2012:
President calls for political consensus on economic policies | DAWN.COM
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Zardaris economic policies lowered inflation by 12 pc in 9 months:Article
SLAMABAD, Sep 16 (APP): As a result of President Asif Ali Zardaris far-sighted policies, the inflation decreased from 25 percent in September 2008 to 13 percent in June 2009, while the fiscal deficit declined to 4.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, a former Wall Street banker said.In his article Zardari Presidency - The Best Hope for Pakistan, Hashaam Riaz Sheikh said the same policies helped lowering the current account balance to 5.3 percent of GDP, with foreign exchange reserves recently crossing $13 billion.
The writer said the Pakistan Peoples Party government faced severe economic problems soon after taking power, however President Zardari made difficult decisions and courageous actions to lay a new foundation for economic stabilization and growth.
Today, the bullish stock markets are leapfrogging to newer heights each passing moment, he said.
The article mentioned the macro-economic stabilization program launched with consultation of IMF that started bearing fruit with the international rating companies in improved situation and fiscal ratings coming from negative to stable.
Under the leadership of President, steps have been taken to bring down the fiscal deficit followed by a very tight monetary policy to tame inflation. Central bank borrowings have been reduced to zero and major efforts are underway to improve tax revenues, it said.
The former banker said adoption of Kerry Lugar Bill providing for tripling assistance to Pakistan and de-linking military assistance from economic assistance was a proof of success of Zardaris Presidency.
He lauded Zardaris economic diplomacy that brought together the international community at the platform of Friends of Democratic Pakistan to lend strategic support to Pakistan in difficult times.
The article says poverty alleviation and women emancipation has been on top of Zardaris agenda and therefore Benazir Income Support Programme was launched which currently covers more than 3.4 million families and will increase to 7 million by next year.
On the basis of targeting mechanism with consultation of World Bank, the government is issuing Benazir card which will create a highway for all other social programs which includes health insurance and vocational training for the recipients.
Benazir Behan Basti was recently launched under which the women holding Benazir cards would be given land to construct houses.
Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme was introduced to provide benefit to around half a million workers of state-owned enterprise and thousand of sacked workers have been reinstated.
The scheme, reflective of the President Zardaris vision, aims at transferring 12 percent GOP share holding will not only enhance growth but also ensure protection and security of the assets as employees would now have direct stakes in the viability and profitability of the entities, the article said.
2011:
Zardari for reforms to put economy on track | The Nation
ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday invited the leading business houses of the country to a meeting of all political parties on the issue of economic reforms to put the economy on solid footing and ensure continuity of policies.
He said this during a presentation by Pakistan Business Council on the agenda for economic reforms at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
He also offered the presidency as venue of the roundtable meeting of political parties, adding he would participate in it as Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party along with leaders of other political parties and would not preside over the meeting. The meeting was attended by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Federal Minister for Commerce, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Privatization, Dr Nadeem-ul-Haq, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, M Saleem Mandviwala, Chairman BOI, Federal Secretaries of departments concerned and other senior officials. Discussing the current economic situation, the president said it was a collective responsibility to work together, hand in hand in order to overcome the challenges of the current economic situation and to put the economy back on track.
He said investors, entrepreneurs and businessmen were important stakeholders and they must come forward to play their role. If the important stakeholders do not step in now to assist the govt to take remedial measures and address economic issues, the economic situation would adversely affect the business community most, the president warned. The president said ensuring continuity of economic policies and taking along all the political parties was necessary to ensure sustained economic growth.
Zardari said had the business community owned the energy policy of mid-90s and stood against their reversal when the PPP government was undemocratically removed from office, they would not have been facing the present energy crisis.
Talking about the ownership of policies, he said: If Pakistans business community takes ownership of the economic policies and plays a proactive role no international agency will be able to dictate Pakistan in economic sphere.
The president also suggested the businessmen to make consortiums of the leading entrepreneurs to consider buying out and managing various state-run enterprises.
However, he said, the consortiums should only be of local entrepreneurs so that the assets and equity remained in the hands of Pakistani nationals.
The president also reiterated his call for maximum involvement of private sector and to adopt public-private partnership models in every mega developmental projects to take maximum advantage of it.
He said no government could tackle the prevailing dire economic challenges alone. It needed cooperation and full participation of the private sector to materialise its vision of bringing socio-economic prosperity.
Talking about the economic reform agenda of the government, the president has said the government would continue to pursue economic reform agenda despite difficulties and challenges facing it.
He said the government was aware of the difficulties of the ordinary people due to financial constraints and it was making every possible effort to provide maximum relief to the hard-pressed class.
He said a large number of families below the poverty line were benefiting from the BISP (Benazir Income Support Programme), adding the social security net provided by the BISP would be further strengthened and expanded. He said financial assistance provided to the poorest of the poor might seem very little but it was a major step in the direction of alleviating poverty and empowering women.
For enhancing our trade we need to focus on infrastructure development and enhancing our capacity to manage business entities effectively. He said during all his foreign visits and interactions with the foreign dignitaries, he had been pleading for enhanced and preferential market access to the products of the country so that the economy could be made strong.
The president said he had been advocating innovative ideas in communication and infrastructure development which would open up Pakistan not only towards East and Central Asia, but also towards Turkey and the Middle Eastern regions.
He said infrastructure development was an important area where they could benefit from the Chinese experience and take maximum advantage.
The vision to make Pakistan a hub of regional economic activities was only possible through more opening towards East and through better communication network and creating special economic zones in which the manufacturers be offered special incentives of access to regional market, captive power and maximum facilitation in their business pursuits, he said.
The president also advised the provincial governments to concentrate on capacity building to undertake mega projects in the wake of recent NFC award which empowers the provinces and gives them much needed economic liberty.
The Pakistan Business Council was represented among others by Asad Umar, Chairman, Kamran, Y Mirza, Abdul Razak Dawood, Ali S Habib, Muneer Kamal, Sikandar Mustafa Khan and Asif Jooma.
Leading members of the business community also offered suggestions which, the president said, would be forwarded to the government for consideration.
2012:
President calls for political consensus on economic policies | DAWN.COM
LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday called for broad based political consensus on national economic policies regardless of which government was in power.
Speaking to businessmen, industrialists and entrepreneurs here, he said after having achieved consensus on political reforms it is time to work for economic reforms as we cannot afford politicization of economic policies.
Presidential spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar, who was also present on the occasion, said the president has commended the business community for achieving record export performance despite various challenges on internal and external fronts.
He assured that the government will take business community on board in all major economic decisions including the upcoming federal budget and the trade policy.
Moreover, the president said economic policy is aimed at creating jobs for youth improving investment opportunities and resolving energy crisis.
We are undertaking short and long term measures to overcome energy crisis. I advised the government to consider exempting the express feeders of industries in Lahore region from loadshedding, said Zardari.
The president said currency swap agreements negotiated with various countries would provide huge incentives to the business community to explore and enhance business linkages with these countries.
He said the governments policies for expatriate Pakistanis resulted in robust growth of remittances which rose from $6 billion in 2007 to nearly $12 billion now.
He invited the business community to participate in Public Private Partnership projects of infrastructure on Build Operate Own (BOO) basis by raising equity through stock exchange.
He said stock exchange trading is at 12,000 points and the credit rating has improved internationally.
Revenue collection up to last month stood at Rs 1270 billion as compared to Rs 1020 billion during corresponding period of last year reflecting 25 per cent increase.
Exports have continued to register upward trend despite the high base of last years exports of 30 per cent rise that touched record figure of $25.5 billion.
