Economy put on right track despite challenges : Farrukh Habib

Farrukh hopeful for completion of K-IV water project by Oct 2023

FAISALABAD, May 22 (APP):Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has put the national economy on the right direction and its tangible results are being acknowledged by the leading national and international economists.

This was stated by State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib while talking to the media before inaugurating Corona Ward at National Hospital, here on Saturday.

He hoped that the country would achieve its targets by the end of the financial year despite the daunting challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharing details about the achievements of PTI government during the last three-and-a half years. He said the economy was destroyed during the previous government, adding that Ishaq Dar presented fake figures to show that economy was growing at a faster pace.

He said that at that time the economy was entirely dependent on the foreign loans, while the rulers were painting a rosy picture of the economy.

“We had no money to clear the import bill. The government was unable to arrange for $10 billion to pay back the mandatory installment of the loans,” he added. He said that the PML-N government had presented fake figure of 5.5 per cent growth rate.

He said that at that time country’s imports stood at $60 billion whereas the exports were only $20 billion. There was a huge trade gap of $40 billion and the current account deficit was $19.2 billion. He said the foreign reserves with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were dwindling at $9 billion.

He said that the previous government got record loans of $11.7 billion and there was no real time growth and the loans were utilised to purchase properties in London. The ill-conceived policies of the previous government dealt a severe blow to the national economy, he added.

He appreciated the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that his economic managers tried their best to stabilise the economy despite threats of putting Pakistan in the grey list, corona pandemic, attack of locusts and threats of the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) to destabilise the economy.

The state minister said that the PTI government, despite facing critical situation, put the economy on the right track. He said that National Accounts Committee has projected growth rate of 3.9 per cent for current financial year. He said that sincerity of rulers plays a major role in attracting foreign remittance.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan tried his best to adopt a sustainable model for national economy instead of following the cosmetic measures. He said that our focus is on export driven and productivity driven economy, which resulted in increase in the exports up to 13.5 per cent. He said that the government was expecting that the export would jump up to $25.5 billion by end of this fiscal year.

He said that corona played havoc with global economy, but it is very encouraging that in Pakistan our economy not only absorbed that shock but also recorded a phenomenal growth. He said that tax collection had also increased as we have crossed a figure of Rs 4,000 billion. He said that large manufacturing groups recorded increase of 9 per cent. Similarly, cement sale was increased by 40 per cent.

He said that manufacturing of cars, motorcycles, tractors also remained satisfactory which indicated that the economy was on the right track. He said that the SBP was also providing free loans to import machinery which would further improve the economy.

He expressed satisfaction about the growth of agriculture sector and said that we are expecting record production of sugarcane (22%), wheat (8.1%), maize (7.4%) and rice (13.6%) more crops this year.

Regarding per capita income, he challenged Muhammad Zubair of the PML-N, Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Zardari and said that it was $1496 during the tenure of previous government. Now it has jumped to $1608, which was clearly indicating that the people were enjoying positive impacts of steady economic growth.

He said that during our tenure the volume of economy has gained increase of $33 billion. He said that Pakistan received record foreign remittances from the expatriate Pakistanis which was only due to their confidence in the PTI government. Similarly, they have invested $1 billion in Roshan Digital Account.

Continuing, he said that foreign reserves of SBP which were only $9 billion have jumped to $15.6 billion and we are expecting that it would cross the figure of $23 billion.

He said that Pakistan had the capacity to store 13 million-acre-feet water during the last 70 years. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PTI government would increase water storage capacity of 12,900,000 acres feet within a short span of 10 years.

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