Dr Salman Shah, Advisor on Finance to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, speaking at a post-budget seminar held under the auspices of Press Information Department (PID) here on Saturday, said that the government would not allow cartels or monopolies to play havoc with the national economy.
He said that the government would not let hoarding of commodities to affect the prices, and asked sugar the mill owners to ensure proper supply of sugar in the country's market.
About the proposed increase in defence allocation in 2006-07 budget he said that its ratio to GDP was 3 percent, as against 6.5 percent in the current fiscal year.
Talking of the necessity to give more loans to rural areas he said that the proposed budgetary allocation of Rs 130 billion was not enough to cater to the needs of these areas. Talking about PDSP in 2005-06 he said its execution was 93 percent in case of Federal Government and 97 percent in case of provincial levels.
The Advisor said that to improve agriculture output the country was already importing tractors at zero rate. He stressed the need to develop the aspects of research in the farm sector.
Dr Salman said that the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) had greatly helped in framing of the relief-oriented budget. He said that with autonomy being given to Federal Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan Statistics Authority was being established.
About shortage of gas in the country for development purposes, he said that the government was making all efforts to improve the situation.
Emphasising on effecting improvements in all sectors of economy he said that the World Bank Report-2006 had placed Pakistan among 10 countries where peak economic reforms was taking place.
The Finance Advisor dispelled the impression that capital value tax (CVT) increase would have adverse effects on stock market and said that the stock exchanges were stable in the country and would not be hurt by it.
Regarding the prices of fertilisers in the country, he said that these are half of that existing in the world. Answering a question on impact of selling agriculture land for property development he said it was a provincial subject.
Salman appreciated improvement in Higher Education Commission (HEC) and said its good performance would better the productive efforts in the country. Aftab Vohra of LCCI, Dr Shela Javed Akram, Colonel Ikram Ullah and others were present in the Seminar.
Comments
Comments are closed.