Punjab Economic Report launched

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha has said that Punjab needs to harness opportunities and not avoid challenges.

Unemployment issue is faced by Punjab likewise other parts of the country and the Punjab government could not provide job to every educated and skilled youth of the province rather this is the private sector's responsibility to provide jobs to them and the government creates enabling environment for it, she observed addressing a launching ceremony of Punjab Economic Report (PER) 2017.

Punjab Economic Research Institute (PERI), Planning and Development Department, the Punjab government hosted the event at a hotel here Monday.

Minister for P&D Malik Nadeem Kamran, former federal finance minister & eminent economist Dr Hafeez A Pasha, Dr Ijaz Nabi Country Director IGC, Provincial Minister for Mines & Minerals Shair Ali, Minister for Population Welfare Dr Mukhtar Berth, Minister for Women Development Zakya Shahnawaz, Capt (R) Zahid Saeed Chief Secretary Punjab, Chairman P&D Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan, Secretary P&D Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Director PERI Dr Mumtaz Anwar, World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan, all members P&D Board, parliamentarians, senior government officials, economists, academicians, and representatives from the industry, agriculture, development organisations and partners also attended the ceremony.

Dr Ayesha focused on the importance of the province's role in improving the lives of the citizens. She reiterated the significance of evidence-based policy making and was of the view that this report would be beneficial for devising strategic development goals. She explained that how the province was making progress in achieving the targeted growth rate through improving the energy generation, fuel mix, and security situation of the province. She also highlighted that under the growth strategy framework, two million youths would be provided with adequate education and skills to ensure their employ-ability.

Provincial Minister for Planning and Development Malik Nadeem Kamran appreciating the efforts of PERI and P&D on the completion of PER, hoped that the report would assess the current economic situation, key performance indicators and the strength of the province and also assist the government by identifying key areas where the province needs more attention.

Highlighting the Punjab government’s commitment to economic prosperity, he stressed that growth must be pro-poor; therefore, every effort is being made to optimally utilise the limited financial resources purely for the welfare of the underprivileged segment of society. For this purpose, the province is covering a range of projects, including maternal health projects, projects of access to clean water, the availability of infrastructure and environment-friendly transport facilities for the deprived segment of the society. The minister assured the audience that major development projects are underway with the role of P&D being pro-active through appropriate scrutinising and monitoring of the projects from beginning to the end.

Dr Hafiz A Pasha highlighted that Punjab was on track to achieving a growth rate of 6 percent by the year end which would be the highest growth rate in 11 years. He said that Punjab has shown a growth rate of 5 percent in major crops in 2016-17, which was the highest in the last 10 years. He emphasised that Punjab needs to focus on providing employment to youths of Punjab in order to take advantage of the youth bulge in Punjab. He highlighted the need to develop secondary cities in Punjab as part of its urban development strategy in order to reduce the burden on existing cities.

Furthermore, Dr Hafiz Pasha mentioned that Punjab failed to achieve its annual one million jobs creation target set in Punjab growth strategy. Currently it has created 650,000 jobs annually and faced 350,000 jobs shortfall. Additionally, he mentioned that there are almost four million unemployed youths in Punjab out of which one million youths are searching for jobs while three million are idle which is more alarming. The most dangerous part is half of unemployed youths is from South Punjab, he added.

Earlier, P&D Punjab Chairman Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, in welcome address said the government achieved an important task of holistically documenting the economy of Punjab. He acknowledged the efforts of the Punjab Economic Research Institute (PERI) that worked closely with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in the preparation of the report. He said the province was focusing not just on accelerating economic growth but on achieving balanced, inclusive and sustainable economic growth which would improve the well-being of the citizens of Punjab. The 7th NFC award has shifted the fiscal balance in favour of the provinces and the 18th Amendment has given constitutional rights to the provinces to focus on human development in the provinces.

Dr Ijaz Nabi, Country Director IGC, thanked the chief minister for providing an opportunity in first preparing the PGS 2018 and then subsequently PER 2017 in order to understand whether the province is on track to achieving the targets it has set for itself in its vision document. In addition to providing an assessment of the PGS 2018, the report also provides an assessment of the opportunities available to the province in terms of CPEC. He appreciated Dr Mumtaz Anwar, Director PERI, for his unrelenting commitments in the preparation of the report.

Dr Turab Hussain presented the key highlights of PER 2017. He stated the report was a compendium of the work done in all sectors over the last 10 years. The report presented an overview of the economy on socio-economic profile (poverty, inequality, regional disparities), structure (agriculture, industry, services), social sector (health, education, infrastructure and urban development, IT, provincial investment in energy, and public sector resource management. He highlighted that the most important challenge for the province was its youth bulge. This bulge could be turned into a boon by educating the youth and providing them with adequate healthcare facilities, or it could be a bane if this youth was neglected.

Moreover, allocations to the health and education sector have doubled which are reflective of the provincial government focus on the public welfare. Governance has improved in the province through stock taken by the chief minister, local government empowerment and initiatives like e-governance that have been crucial in improving the monitoring process in the province, he added.

The ceremony concluded with the unveiling of the report by the respected guests.