ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (APP): Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Senator Saleem Mandviwalla on Saturday emphasized upon combined global efforts to protect the most vulnerable economies from surging oil and food prices, besides, considering mechanism for debt relief, and avoiding a repetition of economic conditions of 1970s.
He said against the challenging backdrop of higher inflation, weaker growth, tighter financial conditions, and limited fiscal policy space, governments needed to prioritize spending toward targeted relief for vulnerable populations.
The senator participated in TRT World Forum held in Istanbul titled, ‘Between Recession and Stagflation: The World Economy at the Crossroads’.
The senator elaborated on the dynamics of post pandemic global economy and said that the pandemic created pressure on already weak economies, thus widening the economic and social gaps.
However, digital globalization offered multifold and multidimensional digital solutions to boost the economy and other sectors.
The senator highlighted that it would be impossible for many countries to avoid recession under the current risks of stagflation.
Therefore, it was imperative that production was encouraged, trade restrictions were avoided and debt relief efforts were enhanced to avoid recession, with debt distress spreading to middle-income countries, the risks to the global economy would amplify.
Learning from the past experiences, Mandviwalla said it was important to balance the need to ensure fiscal sustainability and mitigating the effects of overlapping crisis.
“In an extraordinary era of overlapping global crises, policymakers needed to focus their efforts on countering inflation, boosting the supply of key food and energy commodities and clean energy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels,” he added.
The senator further reiterated that significant financial and investment commitments towards creating climate-smart regulatory frameworks, adjustment of incentive structures, and strengthening land-use regulations were need of the hour.