ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Asad Umar says economy will see enduringstability on completion of the tenure of PTI government due to effectivemeasures taken.
Addressing a post budget news conference along with Minister of State forRevenue Hammad Azhar and Advisor to PM on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood inIslamabad this evening, he said finance bill aims at attracting investment,assisting agriculture, and promoting industry.
Dilating upon the malaise afflicting the national economy, the FinanceMinister said the budget deficit due to imbalance between governmentexpenditures and revenues, increasing trajectory of imports vis-a-visexports and increasing investment are needed to be focused upon to make theeconomy work on strong footings in the years ahead.
Asad Umar said the government inherited a difficult economic situation whenit came to power with outstanding budget deficit of 19 billion dollars. Hesaid immediate steps were taken to ameliorate the financial situation anddue to successful visits of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the friendlycountries, it is satisfactory to note that financing gap has been bridgedfor 2019. He said we are thankful to friendly countries on reposing truston our leadership.
Replying to a question, the Minister said Pakistan will not compromise onharsh terms of any international financial institution, including IMF andIFC. He said negotiations with IMF continue but only such decision will betaken that is in best interest of Pakistan.
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He told a questioner that interest rates of loans taken from Saudi Arabia,UAE and China are quite less from those offered by International FinanceCorporation.
He said no new tax has been levied in the Finance Bill with the exceptionof different rates for luxury cars.
