Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said the government will soon unveil achievements that it has made in the first 100 days in power. Talking to a delegation of columnists in Islamabad, the Prime Minister said the first hundred days report assumes a significant importance in any government as it informs the people about government's direction and future course of action.
The Prime Minister said his government inherited a huge current account and fiscal deficits and is endeavouring to overcome the economic crisis. He said that the government decided to approach the friendly countries to deal with this situation and by the grace of Almighty Allah, it overcame the balance of payments challenge.
The Prime Minister said his visit to China was highly successful. He said we need permanent solution to strengthen the economy on a sound footing. He said for this purpose, the government is focusing on four areas - enhancing exports, promoting investment, boosting remittances and curbing money laundering.
Imran said that currently remittances worth 15 to 20 billion dollars are being received through legal channels whereas almost the same amount is being channelized through illegal means including Hawala and Hundi. He said expatriate Pakistanis are being facilitated to remit money through banking channels to enhance national revenues.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan offers vast investment opportunities in diverse sectors and it will be government's priority to seek transfer of technology in these areas. The Prime Minister said at present money is being laundered abroad to the tune of 10 billion dollars and the government is entering into agreements with foreign countries to check this menace.
He said the recent development of tracing the money stashed abroad to the tune of 700 billion rupees shows as to why the former rulers were seeking work permits.
Imran said the government has signed agreements with Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States to have information about the ill-gotten money stashed in these countries by Pakistanis. Touching upon the state of national economy and the losses being incurred by the major national institutions, he said the circular debt in the power sector that was 400 billion rupees in 2013, surged to 1200 billion rupees in 2018.
He said that in gas sector, the current deficit is 150 billion rupees, in PIA 400 billion rupees, in Pakistan Steel Mills 350 to 400 billion rupees, in Utility Stores 14 billion rupees, while in Postal Services 9 billion rupees. The Prime Minister regretted that unfortunately no one ever made any effort to promote democracy in the country; rather kleptocracy was promoted, wherein the rulers abused their powers for their own vested interests.
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