Pakistan, Oct. 2 -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called on the private sector to move away from a subsidy-dependent model and focus on boosting exports, saying decades of state support to several industries had failed to produce the desired results.

Speaking virtually at a gong ceremony at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday to mark the listing of Naya Nazimabad Apartments REIT, the prime minister said Pakistan could not achieve sustainable economic expansion without a stronger export base. He pointed out that a number of industries had been receiving government subsidies since the 1960s, yet the country had not witnessed a corresponding rise in exports.

According to the prime minister, the subsidy-driven approach had instead c...