ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday launched the government’s Economic Governance Reforms, saying Pakistan had moved out of “economic firefighting” after two years of politically difficult decisions that, he claimed, restored macroeconomic stability, pushed inflation down to 4.5 per cent and lifted foreign exchange reserves to over $21 billion.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, the prime minister said the government inherited an economy in early 2024 marked by nearly 30pc inflation, critically low reserves, weakened state institutions and Pakistan’s marginalisation from global economic engagement. He said the scale of the crisis left no room for shortcuts or populism.
PM Shehbaz said restoring stability required “hard choices” that spared no political constituency, including the withdrawal of “unsustainable” subsidies, tighter fiscal discipline, stronger public financial management and the start of long-delayed privatisation reforms. “These were not cosmetic fixes but unavoidable structural reforms,” he said.