ISLAMABAD – Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar Thursday said therecent downward revision of Pakistan’s credit rating from B to B- byStandard and Poor’s (S&P) was based on the period mostly covered by theprevious government of Pakistan Muslim League (N).Giving reaction over PML-N leaders’ statement during a press conferencehere, the Minister of State said that the opposition leaders were trying tohoodwink people by presenting misleading facts about the country’s economy.
“We have set the economy on right track as the country’s economy is gettingimproved with the passage of time and we would continue exposing those whoare misleading the people by presenting wrong facts and figures,” he added.He hoped that the present government’s efforts would be reflected in bettercredit ratings by various international agencies in future.Hammad Azhar said in June 2018, Moody’s had downgraded the Pakistan’scredit rating from B to B- whereas in January 2018, another credit ratingagency Fitch downgraded the country’s credit rating also.Presenting comparison of PML-N government’s five years’ performance, Hammadsaid the current account deficit sharply increased from $2.5 billion peranum in 2013 to $19 billion in 2018, whereas trade deficit also surged to$30 billion in 2018 from $15 billion in 2013 when the PML-N government tookthe charge.With respect to PML-N leaders’ claim of increasing allocation in PublicSector Development Programme (PSDP) to as high as Rs 1000 billion in2017-18, he said by the end of that year, the government released only Rs601 billion out of total allocated fund of Rs 1000 billion.He said although due to government’s long term strategy, the devaluation ofthe country’s currency caused some inflationary pressure, but during firstsix months of current government, the country witnessed a slight increaseof 1.4 percent of inflation.The circular debt, he said increased manifold from Rs 80 billion in 2013 toover Rs 1000 billion by the end of previous government’s tenure.Similarly, he said total deficit of the state owned enterprises includingRailways, Pakistan International Airlines, and Pakistan Steel Millsincreased from Rs 190 billion to over Rs 453 billion during five years’term of PML-N government.The minister maintained that after six months of present government, themacroeconomic indicators were showing positive trends as the imports whichwere growing at the rate of 15 percent per month during previousgovernment’s tenure were now showing negative growth, whereas exports werealso showing significant improvement.He said the previous government had performed worst specially in its lastyear and it created a big challenge for the upcoming government.However, he said that due to personal efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan,the friendly countries had supported Pakistan to that extent and for thefirst time, the country received such a huge money without the support ofInternational Monetary Fund (IMF).Replying to a question, Hammad Azhar said that the government was incontact with the IMF, however it was not in a haste to get the programmeurgently.”Whenever we will see that we need the money and the conditionalities ofthe IMF were also quite favorable for Pakistan, we will go for theprogramme,” he added.To another question, the minister said that despite challenges, the FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) would get closer to the revenue collection target ofRs 4398 billion.He said during current year, the FBR was facing a littel shortfall due tothe fact that taxes on petroleum products were reduced whereas thetelecommunication tax was also not being collected which impacted Rs 100billion.He hoped that the telecom tax would be restored soon with a differentformula.
