ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): The experts at an intellectual discourse on Wednesday enunciated multiple crises faced by the country, and suggested a sustained action amid international economic recession to avert its serious implications affecting the in-house drivers of financial instability.
Speaking at the roundtable on “Addressing Pakistan’s Inflation Woes,” at the 26th Sustainable Development Conference organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Waqar Masood Khan said that the inflationary situation started with the Ukraine war as the price of oil and other commodities skyrocketed, and Pakistan could not be singled out in that respect.
“Normally our inflation stood at around 6% to 7% but during the past few years, it reached unprecedented levels, which should be debated,” he said, adding that the middleman’s control had an exponential impact on inflation because there was a big difference between wholesale market and the retail market.
Ali Rehman of the Prime Institute said inflation had remained primary concern of successive governments in Pakistan. He said policy and administrative measures to control inflation had proved counterproductive.
Hiba Zaidi of the International Finance Corporation said in each sector, including food and petroleum, there were different reasons for high cost or inflation. She said with regards to food prices there were structural issues along with dysfunctional markets as there were about 50 per cent losses of perishables from farm to market.
Dr Aliya Hashmi Khan of the Quaid-i-Azam University focused on monetary policy issues, saying that decision making was very important to control the inflationary trends.
Saud Bangash, a representative of the Pakistan Business Council, said: “Our issue is primarily economic management while the issue of our economy is structural in nature.”
Speaking at the final plenary ‘Pathway to Recovery, Hope and Resilience’, Special Assistant to Pime Minister (SAPM) and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Dr Jehanzeb Khan said that in recent past, the caretaker government was able to mend things to a certain success which reflected the importance of an effective administration but “now our problems are so huge and complicated that a sustained action is imperative to control the situation”.
Regarding the standby arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, the SAPM said, “We are fulfilling our commitments that have also helped in stabilizing some of the indicators, that means we can do it.”
He said,”The first thing that needs to be done and efforts are on to do it, is to bring the provinces to a consensus in the Economic Coordination Committee of the government.”
The provinces were equal partners in it, he said, emphasizing the need to make National Security Council more active.
Former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain said development patterns in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were based on solid evidence.
He said he did not believe in growth for the sake of growth, but “we all should aspire to have sustained, sustainable, and inclusive growth where we care for the planet, and the prosperity of the majority population.”
SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said Pakistan, since July 2023, had been facing severe economic challenges with the risk of default taking center stage.
He said the Ukraine war and the Middle East conflicts had challenged the world peace involving two nuclear powers.
About the climate change, he said global warming had now turned into global boiling and with increasing temperature, the livelihood options for masses were freezing; “therefore, we have to think out of the box.”
Speaking at a thematic session on “Rethinking Public Debt Assessment with SGDs Lens: Pakistan in Focus” held in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Dr Hamza Ali Malik, Director, Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development, UNESCAP, Thailand, said the management of fiscal policies and debt had emerged as a pressing policy challenge for the countries like Pakistan, and if managed properly, it could lead to sustainable growth.
Dr Mohsin Hassan from the Ministry of Finance said last year Pakistan’s GDP growth was 0.3 per cent while inflation remained at nearly 30 per cent.
“To maintain out balance of payment, we need external financing at a cheaper rate and domestic interest rate also needs to be lowered,” he added.
At another panel discussion on “Sustainability in the Digital Age: Potential of AI in Pakistan”, the experts said that tapping the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could bring significant foreign direct investment (FDI) into Pakistan and boost employment, but it required long-term regulatory policies.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeez-ur-Rehman said that creating an AI ecosystem in Pakistan was crucial for which regulatory policies must be developed in consultation with experts.
SDPI Senior Advisor Emeritus Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Yasin highlighted the vast potential and capabilities that AI was driving in sustainable development, transforming the health, industry, education, agriculture, defense and human resources.
Waqas Burney of Product Partnerships at Google PAC, via video-link from Singapore, highlighted that AI could both predict natural disasters and analyze the damage inflicted.
“With AI, riverine floods can be predicted seven days earlier,” he said, adding that “Google Map” for floods was now available in over 80 countries as an open-source software.
