Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that the government has decided to provide tax relief to Pakistanis on their investments for the next five years.

The premier while addressing a ceremony held to announce an industrial package in Lahore, also highlighted the importance of tapping the potential of overseas Pakistanis as the existing policies were very difficult to navigate for those willing to invest.

“No one will ask them any questions and we will also give five-year tax holiday to those overseas Pakistanis entering into joint ventures in Pakistan,” the prime minister said.

PM Imran said the country’s economic policy has two aspects: firstly directing the money, which is invested in fixed assets, to industries including small and medium sized enterprises. Secondly, the government wants to provide incentives to rejuvenate sick industrial units.

He was of the view that the country would “take off” when the expatriates would start investing in their country of origin. He cited the examples of India and China that have attracted capital and investment from such sources and are now counted among the dominant economies of the world.

“There are nine million overseas Pakistanis and we have not been able to attract them to this country,” he said, adding that the policy also caters to them.

Furthermore, he called for incentivising the IT sector as it was different from the conventional sectors of development. Moreover, he called for changing the university syllabus and organising boot camps to develop the IT sector.

Foreign policy

The premier stressed that the country should learn from its past mistakes, which were made in connection with foreign and economic policies, in order to become a self-sufficient nation and avoid reliance on loans.

“An independent foreign policy is essential for a country in order to stand on its own feet. The world does not respect nations that ask for aid from everyone and participate or propagate was in other’s wars and make it for other’s interest,” the PM said.

He also criticised the country’s decision in the past to participate in the ‘Afghan Jihad’ and took a jibe at former president General Ziaul Haq’s famous words of “these are peanuts” while replying to the then US administration on the aid offered for supporting the war. He slammed the idea of starting ‘Afghan Jihad’ when Russians were in Afghanistan and the ‘war on terror’ when the US entered the war-torn country.

PM Imran said that such a foreign policy resulted in humiliation for the country and the US should not be badmouthed for it. “We let our people die and were reluctant to make tough decisions. We should learn from our history."

Economic growth

Talking about the package, PM Imrans stressed the importance of a strong manufacturing base to spur industrial growth.

The premier said that the country should have looked for more avenues of exports than the textile industry, stressing the need for giving “all sorts” of incentives to the businesspersons and exploiting the full potential of more than nine million overseas Pakistan.

PM Imran was of the view that wealth creation led to a country’s progress and lamented that the nationalisation policy during the seventies went “against” profit-making. “Such policies changed our growth and trajectory and the subsequent powers were divorced from the government and the country’s direction.”

Industries can never grow with a policy against profit-making, he said, adding: “Profit is to investors what honey is to bees.” He lamented that the country’s “direction changed” with the socialist mindset.

Moreover, he called for directing the informal economy to the industries which could have increased industrialisation and prompted the flow of money to the country.

He admitted that the government should have introduced the industrial package earlier, reiterating that “no country could progress by selling vegetables".

The premier added that the country should have given direct amnesty to the industries.