KARACHI: Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair has said that previous federal government created consensus for conducting operation and gave special powers to rangers and during last five years, it never interfered in the operation and gave free hand to law enforcements agencies. Due to the political will of the government and hectic efforts of LEWs, peace has been restored in Karachi.
This he said while speaking with past and present governors of SBP at an interactive session which was a part of the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the Bank, founded by the Father of the Nation on 1st July 1948. He said that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is an important stakeholder for progress and prosperity of economy of the country as its performance has a direct bearing on economic indicators.
While acknowledging its role as a monetary regulator, the governor said that it had a huge responsibility to initiate and sustain business-friendly environment besides ensuring execution of government’s initiatives and policies for the progress of every sector of economy. The governor said that the idea of consultation with former governors was a brilliant one as it would ensure better working of SBP, as the former governors would present their vision for the future based on experiences as the head of this premium institution. The suggestions floated by them would make SBP a better entity, he added
Zubair while recalling the 2013 situation said that five years ago, Pakistan was facing two existential threats i.e law and order situation and energy crisis and the conditions were so worse that no foreigner was willing to come to Pakistan specially in Karachi even on a day trip. Investments, both local and foreign were near to non-existent at that time, he added and said that we knew that peace was the key for economic development, and that’s why emphasis was laid to make the economic hub of the country a peaceful place for investment.
The governor said Karachi was returning to its past glory as social, cultural, economic, literary and sports activities are in full swing here. He said that in reality, Pakistan was a far better place for investment than the perception present globally. We have conducted many road shows to clear this perception,
and went to USA, UK, UAE, and Qatar to present the case of Pakistan to the global investors. He said now reality about Pakistan is prevailing and with the arrival of CPEC, foreign investors are coming in numbers to invest in their chosen field of economy.
Ex -Governor of State Bank Dr Ishrat Hussain, Yasin Anwar, Ashraf Mehmood Wathra and Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, presently serving as Caretaker Finance Minister, shared their experiences as head of the Central Bank of Pakistan. They deliberated upon the past, present and future of the bank, challenges being confronted by SBP and their solutions. SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa highlighted the salient feature of vision 2020 of the bank.