Roomi termed the federal budget was inclusive, forward looking and goal-oriented
wherein maximum relief and assistance was provided to traders, businessmen, labourers, farmers, salaried class, pensioners and other segments.
Appreciating the government’s three-pronged strategy to reform the pension scheme in line with international best practices, he observed that one of the factor of the country’s sick economy was pension liability that would be reduced considerably in next three decades upon implementation of proposal of launching a contributory pension scheme for new employees for which the government would deposit its share every month.
He said that contributory pension (CP) fund practice was enforced in all developed countries under which 50 percent share was contributed each by the employees and Govt departments.
Welcoming an increase of 25 percent in salaries and pensions of grades 1 to 16 and a 20 percent enhancement for grade 17 to 22 government officers in the federal budget, he said that it would provide relief to the price hike-stricken employees.
While terming agriculture as the backbone of Pakistan economy, he said the strong 6.25 percent expansion in the agriculture sector as indicated by the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2023-24, which is the highest in 19 years, has shown substantial growth of this sector courtesy to pro- farmer policies of the present elected government.
Lauding the Rs5 billion farmers’ package, he said that it would increase cotton, wheat, sugarcane and rice production and help achieve autarky in food services in the aftermath of the population bulge growing at about 2 percent rate that brought every sector under stress including food, hospitals, roads and schools.
Jalaluddin Roomi said these positive measures would help drive the country’s GDP by an expected 2.38 percent in financial year 2024-25 which means recovering from a contraction of 0.21 percent in the previous financial year.
The per capita income has increased to $1.680 from $1.551 while inflation slashed to 26 percent against 28 percent last year,’ he said and praised the Govt’s courageous step in signing the nine-month stand-by agreement with the IMF that brought the country to a better place today.
He claimed that the Pakistani rupee has significantly depreciated by 40 rupees within a year in the wake of delays in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, adding the IMF standby arrangement has since set the stage for economic recovery, as evidenced by the downward trend in inflation and rising investor confidence across various sectors.
He said direct foreign investment has started coming back to the country and signing of scores of MoUs at China during the visit of the Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was testimony of it.
Room said that these positive business measures have caused significant reduction in the current account deficit from an estimated $6 billion to around $200 million, which was a positive sign for Pakistan’s economy which has started moving towards economic stabilization after 2018.
