Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar has said that government was focusing on transforming conventional economy to knowledge based economy to ensure sustainable development in the country adding that technology development is crucial in this regard. The Minister stated that the Prime Minister had also constituted task forces on IT and Knowledge Economy in this regard. The Minister was addressing the closing ceremony of 2nd International Conference on Communication, Computing and Digital Systems at Bahria University, Islamabad on Thursday. The Minister said that keeping in view the importance of IT Sector, Rs. 117 billion is being earmarked broadly in areas of smart governance, incentives for industry for enhancing IT exports, citizen services, freelancing and telecommunication in the next 5 year plan. He said serious structural reforms are needed and there is a need to balance the expenditure and revenue sides to put the economy on sustained growth trajectory. The Minister emphasized the need to enhance tax-to-GDP ratio to have more fiscal space for socio-economic development. He said ease of doing business was another priority area which would unlock economic potential in the country adding that the Government was undertaking measures in this regard. Noting that 24.3% population was living below poverty line, the Minister stated that poverty alleviation is another priority area of the current government and in this regard we are working on district-wise poverty mapping to help monitor and make policy interventions for poverty reduction. He said that the Prime Minister will unveil a robust framework for poverty alleviation in the coming days. He said the government was committed towards introducing much needed governance reforms for enhancing productivity and efficiency. He said that peace in the region will result in developing connectivity from South to North up to Central and Euro Asia. ***** ?
PREVIOUS NEXT
