The government has decided to announce a package of Rs 200 billion for exporters to promote exports besides increasing production and job opportunities in the country, Advisor to Prime Minster on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, the advisor said that the State Bank of Pakistan has decided to increase loans for the exporters by Rs 100 billion.
The advisor was flanked by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shabbar Zaidi.
Hafeez Shaikh said the government has decided to allocate additional Rs 250 billion to resolve the problem of circular debt in the country’s power sector. Furthermore, the government has also allocated an amount of additional Rs 30 billion for ‘Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme’ and this amount will be utilized in term of various subsidies to be given to the builders. He said the stakeholders involved in construction sector will also be given special tax concessions.
Hafeez Shaikh said during the first four months of current fiscal year, the government has achieved remarkable successes on economic front as the trade deficit continues to reduce resulting in increase of foreign exchange reserves in the country. He said after a big gap of five years, the country’s exports have started increasing now by 4%. Besides, he said, the FBR tax revenues have also grown by 16% in four months compared to same period of the last year.
The advisor on finance pointed out that cement production also increased by 4.5% which was evident of the fact that the country’s construction sector was growing. “The country’s exchange rate remained stable during the first four months of fiscal year 2019-20 and stock market has also shown a remarkable recovery,” he said, adding that the government has paid $2.1 billion debts obtained by the previous government.
He said Pakistan’s economic sector has comfortably stabilized now which is also being endorsed by the international institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. “Last week, the IMF praised Pakistan government’s efforts of introducing reforms in the economic sector and said that it has met all the targets that were set by the IMF for its programme with the country,” he remarked. He said after successful dialogue, the IMF has also approved release of second tranche of US $450 million to Pakistan.
To a question, Hafeez said the pace of economic growth in the country will further increase in the coming days and the economic growth rate target set by the government for the year 2019-20 can easily be surpassed.
To another question, he said the government had allocated record Rs 152 billion for the development of erstwhile FATA during current fiscal year.
Responding to a query regarding discount rate, the advisor said determination of discount rate is the job of monitory policy committee and the government has given full independence to the SBP’s monetary policy. He said the committee determines the discount rate by keeping in view various factors.
He said the government was fully focused on controlling the prices of daily use essential items. “We are also taking steps to minimise the role of middle men due to which the price of food items jumps when they reach the end consumers,” he said.
He said the government has also decided not to borrow money from the State Bank of Pakistan due to which Pakistan did not print even a single rupee currency note during the last four months.
The government, he said, has decided to provide Rs 6 billion to the Utility Stores Corporation to ensure availability of essential daily use items on subsidized rates.
To a query, he said the previous government wasted US$ 20 to 25 billion of the nation only to artificially maintain the exchange rate of Pakistan rupee against US dollar. He said for the last four months, the price of petrol price has not been increased despite the fact that its price in the international level have increased.
