Prime Minister Imran Khan has unveiled an incentives package for the promotion of the industrial sector with a focus on attracting investment from the local and expatriate business community and strengthening the country’s export-oriented industrial and manufacturing base. The prime minister said that the government was doing all for the promotion of export-oriented industries, vital for the country’s socio-economic development and progress including the measures to strengthen Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Premier was of the view that countries cannot achieve progress only by producing wheat and vegetables, hence the manufacturing and industrial sectors are important for wealth creation and development of the country. According to him, the policy of nationalization in the 1970s had changed the trajectory of growth and industrial development in Pakistan, which was moving in the right direction some 55 years ago.
In fact, Pakistan had an inherited agricultural economy, while the industrialization drive was initiated by Ayub’s government in 1958 and Pakistan had made significant progress toward industrialization during the 1960s. However, the pace of development and growth was struck by the nationalization of industries by the government during the 70s, which not only hindered the pace of development but also turned various profit-generating industrial units into nonproductive and financially failed enterprises due to corruption and negligence of the government employees.
The Prime Minister has rightly mentioned that the anti-wealth creation and anti-profit-making policies of subsequent governments had become major hurdles in the way of required growth of industries in Pakistan, yet successive governments had been working for privatization of government corporations because of incredible financial loss to the treasury. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has abandoned its doctrine of privatization of state-owned entities, and currently, Prime Minister is advocating for the revival of sick industrial units which is nothing other than burning more taxpayers’ money into the already failed corporations. Therefore, it is requested to the premier that the government should continue its privatization campaign because it will not only resolve the issue of circular debt but also open new avenues for development and growth in the country.
