Imran presents PTI’s roadmap to economic prosperity at Lahore rally

Imran presents PTI’s roadmap to economic prosperity at Lahore rally

Imran Khan, former prime minister and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), presented his party's roadmap for economic prosperity at a public rally at Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan on Saturday night.

He emphasised that the country needs difficult decisions to be made to revamp governance and increase exports.

Khan pointed out that Pakistan doesn't collect sufficient taxes, resulting in an outflow of dollars that exceeds the inflow. He said that if exports increase, the inflow of dollars would also increase. He also urged the need for a complete revamp of governance to achieve economic prosperity.

The deposed premier stated that a "surgery" was needed in Pakistan to put the house in order, and if that were done, overseas Pakistanis would bring their dollars to the country. He suggested incentivising overseas Pakistanis to invest and proposed VIP status for exporters.

The PTI chief highlighted the IT and tourism sectors' growth during his party’s tenure and emphasised increasing productivity in the agriculture sector. He also proposed restructuring all government corporations, including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

According to Khan, only 2.5 million Pakistanis out of 220 million people pay taxes. He stressed the need to increase the tax base to achieve progress, and PTI collected record taxes during its tenure. Khan also said that the PTI government introduced health cards, which the current government has stopped, but his party would revive the initiative.

Khan proposed giving loans to young people to start businesses and reviving the mortgage scheme, which the PTI government introduced for the first time in Pakistan's history.

The former prime minister said the PTI's focus is to target poor people and provide them with ration, a program that Sania Nishtar had introduced.