Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday sought recommendations from industrialists and businesspeople on how to increase export-led growth in the country.

“Whatever growth we have to achieve, it has to be export-led growth, period,” the premier remarked while addressing a meeting with prominent leaders of the business community.

He added that any other kind of growth had “no meaning” and reinforced that economic growth had to be export-led.

“Today’s meeting is because we’re in the first quarter, in the month of September. I need your opinions on how to increase our exports, as well as what challenges we will face and how to address them,” PM Shehbaz said.

The prime minister gave the example of special tax relief to exporters as a means to achieve this growth.

He recalled that in the run-up to the federal budget presented in June this year, the government held multiple meetings and had “intense consultations” with the business community.

“Through your consultations in difficult times, the way we brought structural changes over the past two-and-a-half years … it’s teamwork. It’s a tremendous teamwork,” PM Shehbaz said.

“As a result, we made overdue structural reforms. It’s a long journey, but through enforcement we recovered Rs800 billion in one year. No new taxes were imposed.”

PM Shehbaz praised the teamwork involved between the business community and the government, adding that Pakistan was ready to pursue growth with their input.

In July, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the government was pursuing a strategy to diversify exportable products and market portfolios to achieve a target of six per cent sustainable economic growth.

“Our destination is not only stabilisation but sustainable growth of at least 6pc. That growth has to be export-led; otherwise it will become another economic bubble that bursts within a few years,” he said.

Last Monday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the government’s focus was on building an ecosystem to support sustainable growth that was led by the private sector and export-driven.

The minister said Pakistan had moved from stabilisation towards growth, but the key challenge now was to ensure its sustainability.

Earlier this week, PM Shehbaz welcomed the launch of export insurance coverage by the Export Development Fund (EDF) and the Export-Import Bank of Pakistan, saying the facility would help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) expand the country’s exports.

Chairing a meeting on the EDF, he said the Rs3bn risk pool would expand access to export credit insurance, especially for SMEs, and help the business community increase export volumes.

He described the initiative as a highly welcome step to promote small and medium-sized businesses and strengthen the national economy.