Tarin said while addressing members of Pakistan-Japan Business Forum (PJBF) at meeting, arranged by PJBF President Abdul Kader Jaffer here.
The Finance Minister said: "Pakistan has to learn lesson from the past and need to share prosperity with consumption-led growth. "Tax collection machinery is being revamped to enhance revenues. There is need for untapped areas like capital gain tax on stock market, agriculture tax and checking pilferage of taxes in public sector.
"Much has been done in this regard and tax-to-GDP ratio this year will be reasonable," he said. He said the neglected agriculture sector had now been given priority for mechanisation to make it profitable. "We have low production of cotton, wheat, and sugarcane. The government ensured crops support price so that middleman does not benefit," he added.
According to the Minister, Pak rupee was overvalued by 24-28 percent, and stressed the need for an effective real exchange rate. He felt that Pakistan was heavily dependent on the US and European Union (EU) markets for its exports. The member states of Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO) were a potential market for Pakistani goods and need to be focussed.
He felt that optimal mix of hydro and coal was necessary to meet the growing energy needs. He referred to the World Bank report, which said that Thar coal reserves in Sindh province were double than that of Russia. "We need to develop our energy reserves to achieve self-sufficiency through public-private partnership. "The solution is privatisation to reduce government losses. Construction of dams has started to meet water and power needs," he said.
Tarin said the capital market was being developed and the Planning Commission being revitalised and made accountable to the parliament. The government was focussing on poverty alleviation with social security net. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Household Income
Programme for skill training would provide jobs to the people, he added. Tarin said that Japan was an important investment partner of Pakistan and was looking at several ventures. The whole nation and armed forces were engaged in fight to eliminate terrorism, he said. "We suffer billions of dollar losses every year due to lost opportunities of investment. We are setting up special economic zones," he added.
PJBF President Abdul Kader Jaffer, in his remarks, said Pakistan's economy suffered losses of 36 billion dollars as frontline state in war against terrorism and extremism. He hoped nation would come out of serious problems and economy would stabilise soon. He said Japan's new government of Democratic Party was supporting Pakistan and wanted to invest in infrastructure and energy projects.
He said pledges of 5.28 billion dollars were made at Pakistan's Donors Conference, hosted by the Japanese government and the World Bank in April last at Tokyo, and asked how many amounts had been received so far by Islamabad.