Addressing a seminar on “The economic growth potential for the emerging economics in 21st century and Pakistan’s position in the emerging economies”, organised by the Ministry of Finance here at the Prime Minister Secretariat, Shaukat Aziz said due to structural reforms and macro-economic policies, Pakistan would sustain seven per cent growth.

He said, “Pakistan required macro-economic stability, financial discipline, and consistent and transparent policies to bring the country back on the path of high and sustained growth.”

He said prudent macro-economic policies and structural reforms pursued by the government transformed a fragile economy into a stable and resurgent one. The Prime Minister said Pakistan’s economy continued to maintain a solid pace of expansion over the last four years.

He said the economic recovery had been strong, rapid, sustained and broad-based, adding with growth averaging around seven per cent per annum during the last four years, Pakistan had positioned itself as one of the fastest growing economies in the Asian region.

He said this strong growth had been achieved in spite of several exogenous negative shocks, including October 2005 earthquake, thereby clearly reflecting the resilience of the economy and its capacity to absorb shocks.

The growth momentum that Pakistan had sustained for the last several years was underpinned by dynamism in the industry, agriculture and services and the emergence of a new investment cycle with investment rate reaching new height of 20 per cent of GDP, he said.

The Prime Minister said, “we believe that the pre-requisites for sustained economic growth appear to have gained a firm footing during the last four years.”

He said besides improved governance, human capital and physical infrastructure were needed to encourage the private sector to play a leading role in promoting investment and growth.

He said the government on its part needed to redefine its role in the economy and encourage the private sector to improve its role.