Punjab govt to create one million jobs: minister

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Finance Hashim Jawan Bakhat has said the Punjab will create one million jobs, residential facilities to 7 million people during the next five years with the targeted growth rate of 7 per cent of the GDP while agriculture, industry and SME would be used as engine of growth for employment generation.

Chairing a review meeting of the Punjab Growth Strategy 2019-2023 here on Wednesday, the minister said the growth strategy would be launched by end of this month. The minister said that the government will consult all stakeholders before launch of the growth strategy to make it effective tool for the economic growth of the province. He said human development was the base of the growth strategy. He said roads and bridges would not be constructed in the name of growth this time, rather education, health, agriculture, employment generation and investment would be the focus of the growth strategy.

The finance minister believed that the targets fixed for the five years would be achievable through growth strategy. He said the private sector would play the pivotal role in the economic growth of the province and center role would be given to it in the growth strategy. He said the strategy will cater the macroeconomic pressures at the national level and the squeezing of development budget in the province with certain looming liabilities. Therefore, it proposes that over the next five years, the government spends the first two focusing on stabilization and then target for rapid higher growth. Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Laghari said that irrigation and agriculture will play important role in the growth of the province and these areas are focused in the growth strategy 2019-2023. He hoped that focusing on these sectors would benefit the provincial as well as national economy.

Minister for Industry Commerce and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal said that the growth strategy was proof of industry and investment protection. He said the stakeholders would be taken on the board in the policy making of this document to make the growth strategy flawless policy document.