All out efforts on to change country’s fate: Haroon

ISLAMABAD, Nov 8 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue
Haroon Akhtar Sunday said all out efforts were being made to change fate
of the country and due to hard efforts of the government, China
announced $46 billion historic investment package under China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Talking at a private news channel, he said Prime Minister Muhammad
Nawaz Sharif was eagerly supervising the affairs related to CPEC.
Haroon Akhtar said the government had initiated a number of projects
of public interest including construction of Lahore-Karachi Motorway,
China-Gawadar Motorway, three LNG based power plants of 1200 megawatts
each, upgradation of Chashma nuclear power plant and other projects to
overcome power crisis.
The government was also constructing mass transit system in big
cities, he said.
Replying to a question he said, besides the internal check and
balance system of the ministries particularly of Water & Power and
Petroleum and Natural Resources, there were standing committees in Senate
and National Assembly to over site their affairs.
Chairman of the standing committees reserved the right to call the
respective ministers if needed, he added.
Haroon further informed that the International Monitoring Fund (IMF) in a recently held meeting had expressed its satisfaction on Pakistan’s economic performance.
To another question he replied, IMF had few concerns and revenue
was one of them about which the authorities concerned explained the
position.
The IMF officials were full of praise for the micro-economic stability of the country, he added.
Talking about the bench marks of the government he said, foreign
reserves were increased from $8 to $20 billion, inflation rate was considerably decreased, fiscal deficit was reduced from 8.8% to 5.3 and the loadshedding was minimized from 12 hours to 4 hours a day, adding these figures showed the economic stability of the country.
The government has no intention to impose any new tax which
could have direct impact on common man, he added.