Private sector avoids taking risks
Asad Umar says state should own and operate selective enterprises to support growth
PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umar has emphasised that the state should own and operate selective enterprises to support economic growth, as the private sector has time and again failed to make necessary investment in potential sectors and played safe in Pakistan.
Speaking at a webinar on ‘Role of the State in Economic Development’ organised by Institute of Policy Reforms (IPR) on Saturday, he said these were his personal views and not the policy of the government of Pakistan.
With the ministries of finance and planning on the same page, the production sectors are expected to be placed at the centre of the forthcoming federal budget growth strategy in a bid to put the economy on a sound footing.
In recent decades, economic growth has predominately been driven by consumption while on the supply side, the contribution of investment, production and exports to GDP expansion has remained much below their potential.
The domestic demand is met with huge imports of foreign goods and services that have no share in GDP. Though the inflows of workers’ remittances have positive effects on economic growth, it is primarily through the consumption channel, while the investment channel is not found significant, say a working paper central bank researchers Sarmad Ellahi and Muhammad Omer.
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