Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen has said Pakistan will not come out of the IMF program but we will convince them to soften their policy. The FM added that Pakistan will seek space from the financial institution on the matter of power tariff given the current situation of Covid-19. Shaukat Tareen said we have already held some good talks with the IMF and the World Bank.
He was addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday which was his first press conference after assuming the charge of Fiancée Minister.
He said the PTI-led government is pursuing a policy to take the economy towards growth mode. For archiving this goal, we will be incentivizing the industries, exports, agriculture & textile, housing & construction, IT, Energy, and SMEs sector. This, he said, will provide job opportunities to the people.
Unveiling the way forward, he said twelve working groups have been constituted in the Economic Advisory Council to frame short, medium and long term policies for different sectors. He said this council will focus on price stability, reducing prices and controlling inflation. The minister admitted that the prices of all commodities have been unrealistically increased. He said we will try to limit the role of middle man for this we are preparing a strategy.
Shaukat Tareen said there is no concept of social welfare protection in our system but through the Ehsaas Program government has already launched first-ever protection program for the people of the country. He added Ehsas program will be further expanded and employment, healthcare facilities a, and skills development will also be made part of it.
The Finance Minister pointed out that the FBR has done some good work to enhance the revenue collection. However, more programs will be announced in the next budget to eliminate harassment to encourage people to pay taxes. He said there was a growth of fifty-seven percent in revenue collection in the month of April this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. He said it is our target to further expand the tax base.
Shuakat Tareen said that reforms in the energy sector will be introduced and spending on the agriculture sector will be increased to strengthen this vital sector of the economy.
We also want to bring Foreign Direct Investment in the export-oriented industries in order to bolster our exports, said Finance Minister. He said there is a great potential for growth in IT. Its exports will remain two billion dollars this year and these can be enhanced to eight billion dollars in the next two to three years. Reforms in the Banking sector will be brought to expand its reach to 33%.
e said a program will be introduced to increase loans for small and medium enterprises. Similarly, Kamyab Jawan and Kamyab Kisan programs will be further strengthened to bring prosperity at the grassroots level. He added under Kamiyab Jawan Program so far, 8500 youth have been benefitted which is a very low number. He said we set our target to 2 million.
Replying to a question, the Finance minister said The Bureau of Statistics will have to change its approach to pricing. He said pricing data based on only two cities Lahore and Karachi is not accepted and it should be compiled by taking price data from other cities as well. There should be statistical data in the style of Canada and Germany.
