Pakistan PM makes inflation, jobs and taxes priority in new 5-year economic plan

ISLAMABAD: The newly elected government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is crafting a five-year economic recovery plan, the salient features of which include reducing poverty and inflation, creating employment and boosting taxes, the PM’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
In his previous term from April 2022-August 2023, Sharif’s government was able to negotiate a critical International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal for a $3 billion loan, but the process was mired in challenges, and measures required by the agreement — which expires in April — have contributed to rising prices and added pressure on poor and middle class households.
The new government will have to immediately start talks with the IMF for a new bailout to shore up the country’s economy while also dealing with growing discontent over deepening poverty. 
The debt-ridden economy, which shrank 0.2 percent last year and is expected to grow around 2 percent this year, has been under extreme stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23 percent, policy interest rates at 22 percent and record local currency depreciation.
“Reducing inflation, alleviating poverty and providing employment are part of the roadmap,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement after Sharif chaired a meeting on a “5-year economic roadmap for the development of the country’s economy.”
“Actions should be taken on a priority basis to increase the capacity of agriculture, livestock, information technology, foreign investment, small and large scale industries,” the statement quoted the PM as saying, as he vowed to reduce government spending and make privatization of loss-making public entities a priority. 
The PM’s meeting was held as an IMF mission is visiting Pakistan to hold a second and last review of the nation’s $3 billion stand-by arrangement. The review will last from March 14-18. 
Pakistan bagged the last-gasp rescue package last summer to avert a sovereign default. The final review this week, if successful, will release a last tranche of around $1.1 billion.