Finance and Revenue Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday called on all stakeholders to go beyond drafting policies and instead present a practical, results-oriented plan to tackle the country’s mounting population challenge. He cautioned that without effective population management, Pakistan’s economic gains would remain vulnerable.
“Any real GDP growth we record will lose its impact if we fail to manage and curb population growth,” he said while speaking at the two-day Pakistan Population Summit 2025.
Aurangzeb noted that Pakistan has long been aware of its demographic and climate-related issues, yet has consistently fallen short when it comes to implementing solutions.
“We have understood the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ for years. There is no shortage of policy ideas. The real issue now is implementation and execution — the ‘how’ that we must finally address.”
Citing a World Bank study projecting Pakistan as a $3 trillion economy by 2047, he stressed: “The roadmap was very clear – these two existential issues have to be recognized, and more importantly, negotiated, if we are to realize our full potential.”
The minister stressed that the population debate had to be mainstreamed into national fiscal planning. “While Ministers of Climate Change, Health and Population Welfare lead sectorally, it is really the finance ministers who make it mainstream,” he noted.
“If we are not making it part of our budgeting process and planning process, it remains an academic discussion.”
He welcomed the participation of religious scholars and stressed that family planning had no conflict with religion.
Recalling an earlier engagement, he said, “I was very encouraged when Mufti Usmani came with a fatwa explaining in detail that this has nothing to do with religion. We cannot shy away from action because of limitations that hold us back.”
The minister warned that both climate-induced shocks and unchecked population growth were already imposing heavy economic costs. “Flooding this year is going to shave off roughly 0.5 percent from our GDP growth forecast. And with respect to population, whatever real GDP growth we achieve will be a dampener if we don’t manage it,” he added.
He said Pakistan’s rapid rise in global crypto participation highlighted the urgency for a regulated enabling framework. “We are now number three in terms of crypto participation,” he said, adding “That is why having the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority is so important – so young Pakistanis can participate, but in a regulated way.”
Source: Dunya News