'Shaukat's appointment as prime minister to improve Pakistan rating'

Pakistan Commodity Traders Association (PCTA) Chairman Raees Ashraf Tar Mohammad said under the stewardship of Shaukat Aziz the rating of Pakistan would further improve and importer and exporters would be benefited in the long-run.
He said the economy of the country since 1999 has registered tremendous growth and the image of Pakistan has boosted considerably, adding in the past, the importers faced numerous difficulties in opening letters of credits (L/C) as suppliers wanted several guarantees before making any shipments, now foreign lenders are feeling comfortable, and importers are bringing goods from all corners of the world without any restrictions.
The PCTA chief said the improvement in economy helped stabilise the exchange rate, which also helped our importers and exporters community, adding the uncertainty has ended because the businessmen and industrialists are well aware that the value of the rupee has stabilised against the US currency whereas in 1990s the rupee had history of depreciating of 11 percent to 15 percent a year.
He said because of strenuous efforts and smooth mechanism introduced by the former finance minister Shaukat Aziz, the government without much agitation and protests easily doubled the revenue collection which now stood at Rs 550 billion from Rs 250 to Rs 300 billion in early 1990s.
The main focus of this government, which restored the confidence of the business community, was the continuation of economic policy, he said, adding during the first speech of President Pervez Musharraf in 1999, he clearly mentioned the seven-point agenda for Pakistan, in which he spelled out the economic plans to bail out the country from the debt-trap.
"Shaukat Aziz since then started moving the machinery of the finance ministry and now the government has on target and several key macroeconomic indicators improved in last four years", he said.
Economy after eight years to record a growth of 6.4 percent, exports maintained a growth of 14 percent, record foreign exchange reserves at $12.5 billion, and rise in stock market, which was best performing equity market in 2002, he added.
The measures announced in the federal budget for the new fiscal year are growth-oriented and reduction in duty structure to boost industrial activity, while the government and the central bank's stance to maintain a tight monetary policy, controlling interest rates to help maintain the private sector credit off-take, said Raees said.