Plan to expand capital market unveiled

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah on Sunday unveiled a plan to expand capital market, besides strengthening the banking system in the next fiscal year.
The plan included issuing of the new mutual funds, TFCs and bonds in the next fiscal year and continuing the reforms programme for the banking sector enabling it to take up the enhanced role to facilitate the capital market.
Salman Shah was responding to a questioner while releasing Economic Survey 2005-06 here. The adviser said in the past weak banking system provided an opportunity to the influential and political elite to plunder billions of rupees of public money and the same unhealthy practice would have continued if the government had not reformed entire banking system to help it function independently.
He said the banks were operating under a strict monetary regulation system, which does not allow them cartelisation. The reforms in banking sector helped it come out of gray area and now the banks were performing very well in the private as well as the public sector, he added.
Salman Shah said that in the past influential and political elite made the entire banking system vulnerable to risks. He said a very big portion of the bank loans was turning into bad debt every year as long as they were being run by the public sector and added that the policy of handing over the banking business to the private sector did a marvellous job in their proper functioning and reduced the percentage of bad debt.
He said that our privatisation programme is the best in the world and hiring of reputed international financial adviser was indicative of its credibility. He said the Supreme Court's review of Pakistan Steel Mills sell-off case would vindicate the Privatisation Commission's decision.
Regarding debt retirement and the current debt level, Salman Shah said the government was strictly following Fiscal Discipline Law and maintaining debt level to a restricted level. He said Pakistan's total debt in term of Pak rupee was Rs 4217 billion.
The adviser denied that any change has been done in the methodology to assess poverty and that the figures quoted by the official document were fudged. He added that the international donors and experts have certified the poverty figures and reduction in its percentage.