Revival of economy PM’s foremost priority: Rajwana

LAHORE

Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana has said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is proactively taking measures to turn around the economy. 

The governor was addressing a 40-member delegation of the allied officers/participants from various countries of the world being arranged by the Command and Staff College, Quetta at the Governor’s House. 

“The revival of economy is his foremost priority along with overcoming the energy shortage, eradicating extremism and promoting human rights. Our military operation Zarb-e-Azb has borne great results. Our nation has made a choice and we will not allow the cancer of extremism to infect the fabric of our society. Our desire is to have both peace and security within our borders and outside our borders,” the governor said. 

We want friendly relations with nations in our region, and the world at large, he said, adding actual story of Pakistan was far removed from the ongoing narrative in the international media. 

It is a story of entrepreneurial spirit, selfless hard work and unrelenting resilience in the face of challenges and odds. We are conscious of the challenges that we are confronted with as a nation, mostly caused by the ongoing conflict in our neighboring country which has had severe impact both on our society and economy. We have been through difficult times in Pakistan. The governor said all sectors of Pakistan have been adversely affected by the upheaval in Afghanistan. Since the war of terror, we have lost over fifty thousand civilians, army and security personnel. Our economy has borne the brunt of this war. Economic growth slowed and tax to GDP ratio declined. Inflow of foreign investment receded. Thousands of jobs were lost. The enormous direct and indirect costs that economy suffered reach up to a hundred billion US dollars, he added.

Earlier, Head of Delegation Lt Col Muhammad Salman Tajwar highlighted the significance and objectives of the course.

'2b people in world malnourished': Punjab Chairman Planning and Development Muhammad Jahanzaib Khan, said that malnutrition was on the rise globally and it included prevalence of underweight, wasting, stunting and overweight. Two billion people suffer from various forms of malnutrition and in 2011 under-nutrition contributed to over 3.1 million child deaths worldwide.

Addressing a workshop jointly organized by the Punjab Policy and Strategic Planning Unit Health Department, World Bank, UNICEF & HANDS, the Punjab Planning and Development Department jointly on Monday, he said that Pakistani women and children suffer from some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world with a national nutritional stunting prevalence among children under five of 44pc. An estimated 78pc of the world’s wasted children live in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan i.e. one out of every fourth child. 

At 44 percent, Pakistan’s under-5 stunting rates are much higher than the global rate. This is the third highest percentage of stunted children in the world and means that more than 9.6 million Pakistani children have experienced chronic nutrition or stunting. Stunting prevalence is slightly higher in male children (48%) than in female children (42%). Stunting disparities among urban and rural population of Pakistan is 37 percent and 46 percent respectively. On a population basis, high levels of stunting are associated with poor socioeconomic conditions and increased risk of frequent and early exposure to illness. Similarly, a decrease in the national stunting rate is usually indicative of improvements in overall socioeconomic conditions of a country. In Punjab, According to MICS 2014 stunting was 33.5% which marginally decreased from the 39.2% in 2011. Dr Shabana Haider, Member Health, P&D, said that reducing stunting in Pakistan and in specific in Punjab is not only a moral obligation but it also brings a huge economic impact. Stunting if addressed at the early stage will counter all the adverse effects.