Islamabad, September 15,2024-Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal has said that Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has attracted our friendly countries’ investment of approximately $27 billion over the next five years.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Ahsan Iqbal said that out of this $27 billion, Saudi Arabia has pledged $5 billion, the UAE and Kuwait have each pledged $10 billion, and Azerbaijan has announced an investment of $2 billion. He mentioned that these opportunities are knocking on Pakistan’s door, and it is our duty to capitalize on them through internal peace, stability, policy continuity, and sustained reforms. Ahsan Iqbal further stated that the inflation rate has decreased from 38% to 9.5%, and due to this reduction to single digits, the State Bank has announced a 2% cut in the policy rate.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government made tough decisions to prevent the country from going bankrupt, and these government actions led to significant improvements in the economic situation.
He added that the reduction in the policy rate will stimulate business activities, and foreign investment is coming into the country. These are all indicators resulting from government reforms. He noted that the previous government had compelled China to withdraw from CPEC, but China is now fully committed to CPEC Phase II and has assured its support for starting five new corridors with Pakistan.
The Federal Minister mentioned that currently, Pakistan’s development budget has shrunk to 1.1 trillion rupees, which is 4% of our total expenditures. When they left the government in 2018, Pakistan’s development budget was 1 trillion rupees, up from 340 billion rupees in 2013, showing an increase of 2.5 to 3% in the development budget over five years. Unfortunately, when the PTI left government in 2022, the development budget was 700 billion rupees, which was even less than what they had inherited. This situation has been a disaster for Pakistan, with efforts to cover up failures by spreading lies and hatred among the public.
Federal minister said that PTI is now emerging as an anti-state party which has made every possible effort to keep Pakistan out of the IMF program, collaborated with Indian lobbies in the US Congress to pass anti-Pakistan resolutions, and lobbied in the UK to interfere in Pakistan’s internal politics through the House of Lords.
