Salaried class & urban lower to middle class suffering because of price hike: Tarin

ISLAMABAD, Jan 26 (SABAH): Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin has said the government will frame programs in the next few days to improve income of different segments of the society affected by international commodity price hike.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, Shaukat Tarin admitted that the salaried class and urban lower to middle class are suffering because of the price hike.

Shaukat Tarin said the government has also started Ehsaas Rashan program to provide essential items such as ghee, pulses and wheat flour at subsidized rates to twenty million households.

The Finance Minister said that Kamyab Pakistan Program has also started taking off and so far one billion rupees have been disbursed under it. He said the program is providing interest free loans for the start of businesses as well as construction of houses. He said these allocations will be significantly enhanced in the months ahead.

The Finance Minister said the economy is growing and it is expected to touch five percent by the end of current fiscal year. He pointed out that there has been record revenue collection whilst exports and remittances are also increasing.

Shaukat Tarin was confident that the goods exports will touch thirty one billion dollars and those of IT 3.5 billion dollars. He said the remittances remained 15.8 billion dollars during the first six months of current fiscal year.