Economic outlook strong, increasing exports and remittances supporting growth: Hafeez Shaikh
Last updated on: 03 March,2020 10:53 am
Economic outlook strong, increasing exports and remittances supporting growth: Hafeez Shaikh.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that outlook for the economy was strong and pick up in exports and remittances was supporting growth momentum.
“In December 2019, the large scale manufacturing output expanded by 16% on monthly basis, indicating that growth was starting to pick up,” he said while talking to a group of television anchorpersons at his office.
The meeting was part of the Adviser Finance efforts to update the media and public on key economic policies and progress on reforms.
The meeting was also attended by Member of National Assembly Ms Kanwal Shauzab and Omar Hamid Khan, Special Secretary Finance.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh shared updates on the recently-concluded 2nd review of the International Monetary Fund staff by saying that the IMF staff concluded that “all end December performance criteria were met, and structural benchmarks have been completed.”
“This has led to the IMF staff and Pakistan authorities reaching a staff level agreement which has paved the way for the IMF Board to release the next tranche of U$ 450 million in April 2020″, he added.
The Adviser also highlighted that the government had achieved a primary surplus of 0.6% of GDP (Rs 286 billion) in first half of the fiscal year 2020, first time in over 10 years.
“This has been achieved through stronger revenue collection with FBR tax collection rising by over 16.5% and through austerity in expenditure,” he said.
He further said that the non-tax revenue collection during the first half of the FY2020 had also gone up by 170% on year-on-year basis to reach Rs 876 billion (Rs 323 billion in same period last year) which would help reduce the build-up in debt. During the first two years of the current government, over Rs 5 trillion in debt had been repaid to domestic and international creditors.
Dr Shaikh expressed concern over high inflation and apprised the participants on government efforts to reduce the burden on public.
He highlighted that inflation has declined in the last 7 weeks and CPI inflation has declined to 12.4% in February 2020, down from 14.6% in January 2020 as a result of proactive measures by the government to allow imports and increase supply through utility stores.
He said the government had doubled allocation in social safety programs under the Prime Minister’s Ehsas Program to Rs 192 billion in FY2020. However, many challenges remain particularly in resolving the energy sector challenges, he added.