Govt prioritizes, new economy through structural, institutional reforms: Finance Minister

ISLAMABAD, Nov 30 (APP): Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue of Pakistan is Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday said the government is giving huge priority to the new economy and structural and institutional reforms for a sustainable economy in the country.
Along with the traditional sectors in the country’s economy, the government is now paying special attention to the new economy, in which the information technology, mines and minerals and pharmaceutical sectors are of great importance, the minister said.
He said this while addressing a press conference in PTV, Headquarters.
The minister said that this year, the information technology sector was growing at a rate of 25 percent and the annual potential of the mining sector was $ 3.5 billion per year.
He said that the country’s exports were growing by 5 percent per year and at the same time, the manufacturing sector was growing at a rate of 4.1 percent per year.
Aurangzeb said that this year, the country’s remittances would reach $ 41 billion and there was continuous growth in it.
The minister said that the government was trying to make the private sector competitive in the national economy, but the private sector must promote innovation and productivity in the industrial sector.
He said that the textile sector, especially in the private sector, should be innovated so that it can become a productive sector in the country’s economy.
We will have to increase the tax to GDP ratio, which needs to be taken further more than 9 percent, he added.
Speaking at the 11th National Financial Award (NFC), the minister said that apart from this, all stakeholders would gather soon for the 11th NFC Awards and better progress was expected on this.
The finance minister said that developments were taking place in institutional reforms which was necessary for competitiveness in the country’s economy.
He said, “We completed both IMF reviews, which considered the confidence of international financial institutions on the country’s economy.”
“We have also done a lot for grants on climate change and said that from July to October, the cement petroleum fertilizer sector has shown improvement’ he said.
The federal minister said that production of large industries was enhanced, adding, “We have to make growth sustainable through the potential manufacturing sector.”
He said that this year he expected improvement in Balance of Payments and the Current Account would have to be monitored from all aspects.
The finance minister said that the Cabinet would soon approve the summary of abandoning the Export Development fund and export to be enhanced in near future.
Talking on a survey by Overseas Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he said that overseas Chambers had declared Pakistan a better country for economic activities and investment.
He said the government is also keeping an eye on imports, results need to come out in the next three years and the government has formed working groups in this regard.
The minister said that local companies had started producing products and new global companies had come to the energy sector.
He said that many new firms were coming to Pakistan and new investments were also expected in the coming year 2026.
The finance minister said that debt servicing was not being talked about as much as it should be and after nine years, it has happened that the debt stock has not increased.
He said that the government had asked to release the Global Diagnostic Report and on the recommendations have also been given in this report, working already underway on several of these recommendations.