Govt will plug loopholes in laws to counter money laundering: PM

Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the National Assembly.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday told the National Assembly that money laundering was the major reason behind devaluation of Pakistani rupee against US dollar.

The premier said that money stashed by Pakistanis abroad is around $10 billion. He said details are surfacing gradullay during probe into Zardari family’s Omni Group and other cases.

Looted money was sent abroad through hawala and hundi in the past but the government will now plug all the loopholes in relevant laws to counter money laundering, he added.

The Prime Minister said that PTI government inherited huge current account deficit which has been reduced by 30% so far.

ON BUDGET

PM Imran said that a detailed package will be announced next week for the uplift of agriculture sector. He said Pakistan has signed an agreement with China for cooperation in the agriculture sector. Under this agreement China will cooperate with us in seeds production and technology transfer which will help bolster our agriculture production.

He said the government will expand the industrial base in the country to create job opportunities and enhance our exports. It is the first time after 1960 that a government has taken steps to uplift the industry.

"We have given incentives to the industrial sector and they will be given more incentives in future as well."

The Prime Minister said that the remittances have also witnessed an upsurge and we are also striving to bring more foreign direct investment in the country. For this purpose, we are taking steps to ensure ease of doing business in the country.

Regarding the government housing project, the Prime Minister said that different schemes will be launched in the next week which will create job opportunities which will support about forty industries associated with the construction sector.

He said we have also cut our imports and import of exotic food items will be discouraged.

The Prime Minister assured that in these difficult times our effort will be to protect the poor and vulnerable segments of the society and put the burden only on affluent class.

Referring to the steps taking in the budget in the federal budget 2019-20, he said allocations for Ehsas have been enhanced from 100 billion rupees to about 190 billion rupees.

217 billion rupees have been allocated in the budget to provide subsidy to the poor power consumers. 100 billion rupees have been allocated to provide loans to the youth. He said it is our effort to provide shelters to the downtrodden segments of the society.

The Prime Minister said that special emphasis have been given in the budget for the development of neglected areas including Balochistan and tribal districts.

He appreciated the Armed forces for freezing their budget and said this amount will be used for development of tribal district.

PM Khan said it is the first time that Cabinet members cut their salaries by 10 percent while expenditures of PM secretariat have also been cut substantially. He said a separate package of 45 billion rupees have been allocated to the development of Karachi and we allocate more funds for the metropolitan.