National economy is progressing on fast track basis: PM Nawaz

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ISLAMABAD
Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has said plan is underway to transform Pakistan into 20th largest global economy under vision 2025. “we are planning to transform Pakistan into the 20th largest global economy under vision 2025. Pakistan will emerge as one among 20th largest economies of the world in 2025. Pakistan is becoming attractive destination for global entrepreneurs”, he said this while addressing corporate and business leaders and heads of 38 companies from 38 countries including US, UK, China and Italy here Thursday.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan with its sixth largest population in the world, eighty million middle class and attractive investment environment is a destination no global player can miss. He said Pakistan is set on track for sustainable growth.
The Prime Minister invited them to take benefit from the economic revival of Pakistan and enjoy the first mover’s advantage.
Mian Nawaz Sharif said CPEC is a key regional initiative for connectivity and shared prosperity of nations. Apart from energy, road and rail infrastructure, industrial parks and economic zones and a state of the art Deep Sea Port at Gwadar gives CPEC the potential of changing the destiny of the people in the region and beyond. The corridor will substantially shorten transportation distances between Africa and Middle East to Central and South Asian regions. CPEC would connect the port of Gwadar to Kashghar.
The Prime Minister said when the Government took over, the economy faced severe energy shortages, inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility and a precarious security environment. Today, the Government has managed to stabilize the economy despite unfavourable global economic conditions.
He said from a 3% GDP growth before 2013, the country is projected to achieve 5.5% GDP growth this year. The economy is targeted to grow over 8% between 2018 and 2025 while maintaining a single digit inflation.
He said “our national economy is progressing on fast tack basis. Your visit to Pakistan will afford new trade opportunities. Different zones are being set up in the country for foreign investment.
We are providing conducive environment to foreign entrepreneurs and foreign investment is on rise in the wake of vibrant economic reforms, he remarked.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said our reforms are multifaceted as we reduced bank interest rates, eliminated tax exemptions to provide a level playing field, strengthened tax administration, rationalized untargeted energy subsidies and widened society safety nets.
He said we are well aware that international investors need stable markets backed by clear and consistent policies. We are committed to maintaining an enabling policy framework to attract foreign direct investment.
He said the consumer market in Pakistan is growing at a very fast pace. The consumer demand of automobiles, housing and electronics is thriving and providing considerable returns to the corporate sector. The services industries particularly telecommunication, hospitality and online-retail are fast growing into attractive areas for investment.
The Prime Minister also referred to the boom in stock exchange and said PSE 100 index crossed the benchmark of fifty thousand recently.
He underlined that we are working with China on one road, one region vision and over 55 billion dollars investment is being made under CPEC. Industrial zones, highways and basic infrastructure are  developing in the country under CPEC. Gwadar and China will be linked through CPEC, he added. CPEC will link Central Asian States with Pakistan, he added.