Pakistan vows not to compromise on economy

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that steps being taken to improve the economy and any kind of political and administrative pressure would not be tolerated in this regard.

Speaking at the anti-trafficking meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that due to smuggling, Pakistan has suffered enormous losses. The coalition government had allowed the export of 2.5 million tons of sugar in 2022, the sugar that we could have earned dollars by selling was lost due to smuggling to Afghanistan. The country is losing Rs400 to 500 billion annually due to electricity theft. The petroleum sector is also suffering from gas theft. Rs58 billion were recovered in the energy sector during the caretaker government.

He said that there should be an end to political chaos and division in the country and we are taking steps for the improvement of the economy. We have to understand the challenges and act on them so that the economy can be managed. For the development and prosperity of Pakistan, the political chaos must be ended, he said, adding the federation, provinces and the institutions should all be unified.

Shehbaz said that during the caretaker government, concrete steps were taken to end trafficking. The cooperation of the Army Chief and the provinces helped in anti-trafficking. All the provinces supported the federation in the anti-trafficking campaign.

The prime minister said that an attempt was made to damage China-Pakistan relations with the Bisham incident. It is our common responsibility to thwart all the enemy’s plots, he said adding that the interior minister had been instructed to review security in the provinces.