( Asghar Ali Mubarak)
ISLAMABAD (TNS) The Uraan Pakistan is a game-changer plan for economic revival. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has officially announced the National Economic Transformation Plan ‘Uraan Pakistan for the next five years.
About the ‘Uraan Pakistan program, the Planning Minister says that Uraan Pakistan is a comprehensive national economic transformation plan that was developed to take Pakistan to ‘new heights of development’. The aim of this program is to make the country stable, sustainable and competitive in the global economy, which is based on the framework of five 5 Es.
The first objective is to create an export-oriented economy, the second is to bring about a digital revolution in the country, and the third is to deal with climate change and its effects. The fourth sector where attention will be paid is energy and infrastructure, while the fifth is to build an equity-based society.
Ahsan Iqbal says that important factors must be addressed immediately to ensure Pakistan’s development and progress. According to him, the plan is based on several points that must be implemented for the country’s development and prosperity. He also stressed the need to adopt modern sectors such as automation, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, which according to him will “transform the economy of the future.”
The Planning Minister said that Pakistan will have to align its human resources with emerging technologies. “We have reviewed the key issues facing Pakistan in the last 16 months and identified priorities on which a solid foundation can be established. This has led to the creation of a five-ease framework, which will address our fundamental challenges.”
He explained that this framework includes increasing and diversifying exports so that export-led growth becomes the central component of the economy, transforming Pakistan into a technology-driven economy by harnessing the power of digital transformation, achieving sustainability by ensuring environmental, food and water security, focusing on efficient use of energy resources and reducing costs, and building multi-modal transport corridors.
Among the goals set by the government under this program, the first is to increase exports to $60 billion annually in the next five years.
It should be noted that the current volume of Pakistan’s exports is around $30 billion annually. Similarly, the GDP growth rate is to be taken to six percent in the next five years.
In the e-Pakistan sector, a target has been set to take the information technology freelance industry to $5 billion in the next five years, for which two hundred thousand IT graduates will be prepared annually.
In the field of climate change, a target of reducing greenhouse gases by 50% has been set in the next five years, along with an increase in arable land by more than 20% and an increase in water storage capacity by ten million acre feet.
The share of renewable energy in the energy sector is to be increased to ten percent. In the field of social equity, according to the ‘Uraan Pakistan document, the poverty rate is to be reduced by 13 percent.
It should be noted that the 5A’s in Uraan Pakistan, the five-year economic recovery and economic development plan launched by the federal government, refer to Export, E-Pakistan, Environment and Climate Change, Energy and Infrastructure, and Equity and Employment. The aim of this plan is to provide a targeted framework to solve important economic problems.
Economic experts say that think tanks should be established to bring prosperity to the country and eradicate poverty and all 5A’s of the Uraan Pakistan project should be included in the second phase of CPEC. The government has launched a new and comprehensive plan for economic prosperity. To make the plan successful, significant reforms are necessary for industry, productive resources, taxes, energy, rule of law, and political stability. The government will have to take steps to completely overhaul the bureaucracy, promote higher education, digitalization, artificial intelligence, science and space, hybrid agriculture, construction of special economic zones, joint ventures for electric vehicles, solar and wind panels, lithium batteries, and industrialization.
Regarding the success of the Uraan Pakistan program, economist Dr. Shahid Hassan Siddiqui said that increasing the GDP ratio, increasing domestic savings, quality investment, and making taxation policy fair can play an important role in promoting the national economy.
Executive Director Center for South Asia and International Studies Islamabad Dr. Mahmood ul Hassan says that since the launch of CPEC, China has become Pakistan’s largest investment, business, and trade partner.
The success of Uraan Pakistan requires China’s continued support and cooperation. China has considerable expertise in the sectors that are part of Uraan Pakistan, so including Uraan Pakistan in CPEC would be an excellent decision.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says that the Uraan Pakistan project will prove to be an important milestone in national development to make the country stable, strong and prosperous.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the economic team, economic targets will be achieved in the next six months.
Remittances are expected to reach $35 billion during the current fiscal year, which will be a great honor in the country’s history. The common man is also testifying to the positive economic indicators of the last 9 months, improved economic performance and transparency.
The Prime Minister says that economic development can be achieved by promoting exports, there is no other option, and the growth rate has stabilized, now we have to move forward. With the efforts of the economic team, 72 billion rupees were received in the national treasury. The December revenue target has almost been achieved, which is 97%. Various ministries are implementing rightsizing, e-governance and other measures. They have succeeded in bringing macro stability to the national economy.
Now we have to move towards the development of the national economy, for which we have to ensure the achievement of our goals and implement policies.
In addition, Shehbaz Sharif expressed satisfaction over the inflation rate reaching its lowest level in 81 months and said that it is welcome that the inflation rate has reached 4.1% in December 2024. Macroeconomic stability has been achieved, but this is just the beginning. We have launched projects like Uraan Pakistan project.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had stressed the importance of formulating a comprehensive five-year strategy and a collaborative approach to doubling Pakistan’s exports in early April 2024.
Prime Minister had asked the Ministry of Commerce to formulate an export strategy in consultation with successful traders and stakeholders.
Under ‘Uraan Pakistan’, economic targets have been set for the next five and longer term till 2035. For example, a target of six percent increase in the country’s growth rate in the next five years has been set and a target of taking the size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to one trillion dollars in the next 10 years, i.e. by 2035 has been set.
It should be noted that Pakistan’s GDP is currently around $374 billion.
The government has launched a National Economic Transformation Plan ” Uraan Pakistan”.
This five-year plan provides a targeted framework to address key economic issues under the ‘Five Es’ (Exports, E-Pakistan, Equality and Empowerment, Environment, Food and Water Security, and Energy and Infrastructure).
Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in a statement that this plan will catapult Pakistan into the ranks of the world’s major countries in the next three years, Pakistan’s economy has stabilized and now the private sector will have to run things.
Remember that Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif formally inaugurated the program on December 30 at a time when the government has made claims about the stability of the country’s economy and a decrease in the pace of inflation.
