The economy of the country has performed well during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2013-140) as suggested by major economic indicators including growth rate, inflation, foreign remittances, foreign exchange reserves, external trade and industrial growth, Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar Wednesday said.
Addressing a press conference here to share performance of economy from 1st July to 28th February (2013-14), the federal minister said visible changes have been witnessed in the form of increase in GDP growth and decrease in Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation.
He said that the performance has also been evaluated by independent institutions like International Monetary Fund which also termed it positive and have reversed their growth targets from 2.8 percent to 3.3 percent.
He said that as compared to average GDP growth of 3% during past threeconsecutive years, the GDP growth is projected to remain upto 4.5 percent thisyear.
He said that inflation based on CPI has also reduced to 8.6 percent which would be maintained at around 8.5 percent by the end of fiscal year.
He said that this was due to vision of the Prime Minister of Mohammad NawazSharif and integrity in policies that we are seeing these positive results.
However, we have to do more to realize the dream of new Pakistan by exploiting the countries resources including minerals, gas and oil reserves to boost economy.
The federal minister said that tax collection during the first eight months have increased by 17.7 percent as compared to the same period of last year. The tax collection during July-February (2013-14) was recorded at Rs.1348 billion compared to Rs.1145 billion in 2012-13, he said.
The Federal Minister for Finance said that the budget deficit during the first eight moths of the current year has been reduced to 3.1 percent compared to the deficit of 4.4 percent last year.
The remittances have also increased from $9.23 billion last year to $10.24 billion this year, showing an increase of 11 percent.
Similarly, the exports from the country also increased by 6.6 percent, going up from $15.88 billion last year to $16.86 billion this year, Dar said.
He said that as many as 2490 companies were registered during these eight months compared to the registration of 2166 companies last year, showing 11 percent growth while in February 2014 about 427 companies were registered,indicating confidence of people in country’s governance system.
He said that Large Scale Manufacturing has also witnessed growth of 13.2 percent which is highest in seven years.
He said that agriculture was one of the top priorities of the government adding that the size of agriculture credits have been enhanced from Rs.336 billion to Rs.380 billion to give boost to this sector.
He said that Karachi Stock Exchange also crossed mark of 27,000, which boosted confidence of the investors.
He said that country’s foreign exchange reserves have mounted up to $9.52billion as on March 11 which included $4.75 reserves of commercial banks and$4.77 billion of State Bank of Pakistan. He said that the reserves would cross $10 billion by the end of this months.
He said that Pakistan has been ranked second in the world in terms of business growth in a survey conducted by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) while Pakistan’s economy has potential to become the 18th largest economy of world by 2050, as suggested by other report.
Dar said that the government would try its best to realized the dream of 18th largest economy by 2025.
He said that the government would achieve its targets that include 6 % GDP, 13 percent tax to GDP ratio and narrow fiscal deficit from 8.8 percent to 6 percent this year followed by 5 percent next year and 4 percent by third year.
Similarly, the foreign exchange reserves would be increased to $20 billion in three year and to $16 billion by the end of this year.
He said that owing to appreciation in rupees value against dollar, Pakistan’s debt has reduced by Rs.800 billion while the depreciation of dollar would help reduce prices of various commodities, hence providing relief to the masses.
Talking about the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), the minister said that billing till December 2013 have been forwarded and the government was expecting to receive $400 million by April.
Furthermore, he said that billing amount of four quarters which amounts to $1.6 billion would help improve country’s financial resources. He was of the view that Pakistan would need $20 billion in next 4 years for
development projects adding that Pakistan Development Fund has been created to work towards this end.
He said that overcoming energy challenges, putting economy on right track and eliminating terrorism were the priorities of the government adding that the government has to overcome the first two challenges and would work for eliminating terrorism in the country.
To a question, he said that we are ready to spend every penny to rid the country of the terrorism and put the country on straight path of development and progress.
He said that it is reported that $80 billion losses have been inflicted on country’s economy due to war against terrorism.
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