ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday unveiled its two-year performance report, claiming to have overcome major economic challenges and paving the way for putting the country on the path of development.
The "two years performance report" was unveiled during a press conference by the senior cabinet members including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Asad Umar, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar.
However, the ministers declined to take a single question by media persons after the media briefing. Sharing the performance of his ministry, Hafeez Shaikh maintained that neutral international observers and rating agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Moody's, and Fitch had acknowledged economic progress made by Pakistan despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite internal and external challenges, he stated that the combined impact of various progressive economic indicators shows that the country was moving forward.
"Thanks to prudent government policies," he said, adding that the policies would continue and efforts would be made to stabilise their positive effects.
He said that performance of various sectors of economy during the first month of the current fiscal year was encouraging.
He said exports witnessed a positive growth of over six percent, cement sales increased by 33 percent, while its exports climbed up by 66 percent.
He maintained the government had inherited an economy in a crisis situation as the current account deficit had reached historic level of $20 billion due to stagnation of exports for the past five years.
"It is our historic performance that the current account deficit was brought down from $20 billion to $3 billion," he said.
He said the government returned loans of Rs5,000 billion borrowed by the previous governments.
He said that petrol and diesel consumption increased by eight and 15 percent respectively, fertiliser production enhanced by 22 percent, motorcycle sales went up by 31 percent, tractor sales increased 31 percent, and automobile sales also showed an increase of four percent.
The adviser said that remittances witnessed a "historic" increase, and reached $2.8 billion in July, while revenue collection by the FBR in the first month of the current fiscal year increased to Rs300 billion, exceeding the target by 23 percent.
He said the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) index increased by 47 percent and the stock market had been recognised as the best performing markets by Bloomberg.
He maintained that there had been 188 percent increase in foreign investment.
He pointed out that the foreign exchange reserves had also depleted to half when the government took over, and the danger of default was looming large at a time when the country was already overburdened by excessive borrowings by the previous governments.
He said the government also curtailed its expenditures, adding that the budgets of President's House and the Prime Minister's House were reduced, while those of the armed forces were frozen.
He said no borrowing was made from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) during the last fiscal year and also no supplementary grants were given during this period.
He said the government gave a mega package of Rs1,240 billion to cope with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the major portion of the package went to the disadvantaged segments of society and the people rendered jobless by the pandemic.
He said a payment of Rs250 billion was made to them in the "most transparent" manner.
He said that no new tax was imposed in the current year budget, while taxes on import of raw materials were either totally abolished or reduced significantly.
"The government's economic policy has started bearing fruit," he further maintained.
"The country is being taken forward through a combined effort...The people of Pakistan are the priority of Prime Minister Imran Khan and I hope the economic gains will be further consolidated in the days ahead," he added.
The adviser said the government ensured liquidity to the business community and helped them in many ways by offering soft loans, delaying their due loans, paying utility bills of small businesses. The government also earmarked Rs280 billion for wheat procurement. These steps were taken to ensure cash flows.
Furthermore, Rs192 billion was provided to the development of newly-merged tribal districts, Rs50 billion for subsidy on five basic food items through Utility Stores Corporation and Rs15 billion Ramzan Package given to provide subsidy on 19 items; while 72 percent people benefited from the subsidies on electricity, 90 percent from gas subsidy, and 100 percent tube-well users benefited from electricity subsidy.
In his remarks, Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, all the supply chains were kept open to ensure availability of essential commodities to people.
He said timely decisions were taken by the government for gradual reopening of industries.
He said the government had given an incentive package to the construction industry and as a result, there was an upsurge in the construction sector.
He said the construction activity would further increase after the monsoon season.
He said that two new policies were given by the government including that of electric vehicle policy and mobile manufacturing policy.
He said the manufacturing of two and three-wheeler electric vehicles would start this year, while Pakistan was also to begin export of smart phones.
He added that difficult decisions had also been taken vis-à-vis state enterprises, including the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).
He said that work was underway with the Privatization Commission to bring a joint stakeholder, adding that on the one hand, there would be the government and on other, a private sector stakeholder.
He said that Pakistan had also made significant progress to meet the action plan of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
He said that out of the total 27 points of the action plan, Pakistan had completed its work on 14 and on the remaining 13 items, the work on 11 had completed partially, and during this year, work on all the items would be completed.
Sharing the achievements of his ministry, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that because of the effective policy of the last two years, the Kashmir issue stood internationalised, adding that the UN Security Council held discussions on the outstanding dispute three times in a year.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the UN General Assembly and other international forums forcefully raised the issue and sensitised the world about Indian atrocities in the occupied valley.
He said India wanted to isolate Pakistan at the regional and international levels.
"But we foiled their plots and today, India stands isolated in the region," he said, adding that India had issues with China, Nepal and other regional countries.
Qureshi said the intra-Afghan negotiation was about to commence and Pakistan had played its part in the peace process with sincerity.
"There has been a narrative shift regarding Pakistan over the last two years. Pakistan is no longer considered a part of problem but a part of the solution," he said, adding that Pakistan was now being viewed as a partner in peace.
He said that his ministry gave the concept of economic diplomacy to enhance our economic footprints, adding that Pakistan had signed "strategic engagement plan" with the European Union and as part of economic diplomacy, Pakistan had also engaged with the African countries.
He said the Prime Minister's Global Debt Relief Initiative for the developing countries was acknowledged by the world.
He said during this period, Pakistan also revitalised its relations with our longstanding friends.
Our relationship with China is transforming into a strong economic partnership, he said, adding that the second phase of the CPEC involved industrialisation in Pakistan, enhancing agriculture productivity; and poverty alleviation and human resource development were other important components of the second phase of the corridor project.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said the difficult period was over now and good times had arrived, "which have reflected in multiple positive developments during the period".
He said the first two years were difficult "but now the good days have started".
He said the governments are answerable before the masses in a democratic set up. "Our aim is to transform Pakistan into a welfare state. It is the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to serve the masses especially those belonging to the downtrodden segments of society," he said.
He said people had rejected the politics of vested interests, adding that Pakistan's enemy wanted to destabilise our economy and create anarchy in the country.
"Our challenge is to fight on the internal and external fronts. The role of the Ministry of Information has become very important as the fifth generation has been launched," he said, adding that certain forces were hell bent to damage the national economy, spread dependency and frustration among the masses.
Dr Sania Nishtar also shared the progress made under the Ehsaas programme and its different components, adding that launched 15 months ago, the programme was now the country's biggest-ever social safety net.
She said that Ehsaas programme would further be expanded and its access to people would be ensured.
She announced that another programme was being launched in the next 15 days in all districts of Pakistan under which the children of deserving families would be given scholarships.
She said that Pakistan's first shock-oriented precision safety net, "Tahafuz" to cover heavy medical expenditures for the deserving and the scholarships would benefit five million primary school going children in 148 districts.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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