Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday stressed the need to focus on sustainable economic growth, job creation, and export promotion, as the country has successfully restored macroeconomic stability through a collaborative team effort. The prime minister, in his virtual address at the Gong Ceremony to celebrate the listing of the Naya Nazimabad Apartment REIT scheme, lauded the joint efforts of the federal and provincial governments and financial institutions in steering the national economy out of severe challenges.
The prime minister was accompanied by federal ministers Attaullah Tarar, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Dr Musadik Malik, and others. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, prominent business leader Arif Habib, and leading corporate figures attended the event held at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, which started with a cake-cutting ceremony.
Recalling his recent interactions with international bankers and financial leaders in New York and London, including executives from Citibank, JPMorgan, and Barclays and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, the prime minister noted that global financial institutions had commended Pakistan's implementation of long-overdue structural reforms, creating an attractive ecosystem for investment. He particularly thanked the finance minister, cabinet members, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and federal secretaries for establishing a replicable model of teamwork. He added that the successful implementation of reforms and macroeconomic stability were the result of a cohesive partnership between the political hierarchy and military leadership working in complete harmony.
Highlighting key economic indicators, PM Shehbaz pointed out that Pakistan successfully achieved a $3 billion Eurobond issuance with $6 billion in offers, while State Bank foreign exchange reserves have risen to around $21.4 billion, alongside commercial bank reserves of $5.5 billion. He said that foreign remittances and IT exports were on an upward trajectory, while the Roshan Digital Account was performing robustly. Stressing the shift from stabilisation to growth, the premier called for efforts to achieve economic growth driven by technology, employment generation, production, and exports.
The prime minister recalled that the federal budget offered hundreds of billions of rupees in tax breaks and incentives for exporters, manufacturers, and industries, including the construction sector. He specifically commended the real estate and industrial initiatives spearheaded by business leaders like Arif Habib in Lahore and Karachi under the REIT structure, urging further modernisation and improvement of the stock exchange and capital markets by studying other markets in the region. Expressing deep concern over the poor performance of certain industries that received heavy subsidies and tariff walls while repeatedly failing to ensure import substitution, the prime minister called for an honest approach prioritising national interest over personal gains, stressing that progress relied on modernised machinery, productivity, and hard work.