Pakistan has achieved macroeconomic stability: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb

ISLAMABAD, April 05 (SABAH): Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb has said the country will be taken towards export and productivity led growth to ensure sustainable development.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Muhammad Aurangzeb mentioned that Pakistan has achieved macroeconomic stability. He said we cannot squander this opportunity and have to change the DNA of the economy. He emphasized that there should be exports in each sector, expressing satisfaction that the auto sector has started exports in the last two months.

Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government is undertaking structural reforms in order to make the current IMF program the last one.

On the taxation side, the Finance Minister said the tax to GDP ratio is to touch 10.6 percent by the end of this fiscal year, which is an increase of one point eight percent in one year. He said the tax to GDP ratio will be taken to 13.5 percent.

He mentioned that the FBR revenue collection will increase by 32.5 percent this year, emphasizing that they are deepening the tax base. He highlighted that 413 billion rupees were collected from the traders, which is up from 189 billion rupees last year. He said one hundred and five billion rupees were also collected from new tax filers.

The Finance Minister said that process of privatization will be accelerated.

On the external front, the Finance Minister said there is a rise in foreign exchange reserves on the back of very strong remittances. He was confident that the remittances will touch record thirty-six billion dollars this fiscal year. He said exports are also holding firm with seven percent growth. He expressed the confidence that the foreign exchange reserves will touch over thirteen billion dollars by June this year.

The Finance Minister said the inflation is at 0.7 percent which is a six-decade low. He said it is our effort to ensure that the benefit of low inflation rate reaches the common man.