ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: The present government’s policy is to turn around Pakistan from an impoverished to a prosperous nation, said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali in his address at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here on Tuesday.

“We must reverse the setback to agriculture that has wrecked the infrastructure of the country during the past 12 years,” he added.

He focussed his speech on economists and planners asking them to stop the neglect agriculture has suffered during the last few decades which has resulted in the present food insecurity and the near famine condition in the country.

He quoted a World Bank report saying poverty had risen to 45 per cent in Pakistan during the past decade or so. Announcing a new thrust to economic planning, the former foreign minister said the government policy at the macro-level must attack poverty through productive measures, eschewing import driven consumer economy, which was all that had been done by the past governments, this had not only starved agriculture but shriveled the manufacturing sector.

“Mitigating poverty effects and equal income distribution mechanism was this government’s policy plank.” At the same time he asked the economists to come forward to assist the government in making sound economic policies.

He wanted PIDE to rise to the level of a world class teaching research university and envy of many research economic and finance institutions of the world.

The Planning Commission’s deputy chairman appreciated the assistance received from PIDE in pragmatic economic planning and in deflecting the present course towards speedy macro development from catering solely to the ‘upper middle class and the rich men, and building a dollar economy in neglect of poor classes.’

Earlier, the PIDE Vice-Chancellor Rashed Amjad drew attention to five areas in the new development paradigm against rising poverty and taking safety measures to protect the vulnerable sections of the society.

According to the vice-chancellor, who is also the government’s chief economist, these crises stem from circular debt arising out of ‘disconnect between economic policy makers and development planners.’

‘The KESC, and Wapda must act in concert with the government to get rid of this ‘problem’, Rashed Amjad told journalists, after the convocation, suggesting giving priority attention to agriculture to make it the leading engine of economic growth.

In his capacity as Chancellor of the PIDE, Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali also distributed testimonials and certificates to six meritorious students of PIDE for winning top positions in the essay competition on the subject, “Causes of current global unrest and its implications for Pakistan”.

Certificates were awarded to Eric Paul of PhD class; Matiur Rahman and Farah Zafar of M.Phil; Matiur Rahman Satti of M.A. in Population Studies; Kamran Shahzad of M.A. in Economics and Hafza of MBA.

Members of the Planning Commission, faculty members of PIDE and a large number of students attended the investiture ceremony.

APP adds: Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said the previous government followed the consumption-led growth policies rather than production or investment led policies, causing economic problems for the incumbent government.

He said the present government was pursing production-cum-investment led growth policies for the benefit of the people, especially the poor.

The government was also following prudent economic policies besides focusing on the development of infrastructure and human resources development across the country for socio-economic prosperity, he said.