Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said the government after stabilization of economy is taking steps now to deal with the challenge of inflation and enhance domestic productivity through greater spending on social safety net.

He further said the government was improving cash transfer programme, ensuring ease of doing business and providing subsidized loans, said a press release issued here.

The advisor said the government had been able to bring the economy out of the difficult situation and now the stage was set for greater stabilization and enhanced domestic productivity. That, he said, would help overcome inflation, boost businesses and create more employment opportunities. The advisor was talking to Ambassador of France Dr Marc Barety who called on him at Finance Division on Tuesday.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said the government was focusing on revitalizing the agriculture sector and several mega projects had been approved for improving irrigation management, watercourses and construction of water storage facilities at the farm level. These projects are also aimed at productivity enhancement of various crops, oilseeds enhancement, cage culture development, shrimp farming cluster development and water conservation in arid areas.

He said the government had doubled the social safety budget from Rs 100 billion to Rs 190 billion while it had also recently revamped its cash transfer programme by replacing nearly 800,000 people with more deserving people.

The government has also recently launched a special food package at a cost of Rs 7 billion to provide essential food items at reduced rates through utility stores to the poor segment of population adversely affected by the food inflation.

On the macro front, he said the government had brought down the current account deficit from $20 billion to $13 billion and it would be further reduced to $8 billion this year. Similarly, exports have begun to show growth after remaining stagnant for almost five years.

He said the revenue collection had jumped by 16 percent and foreign direct investment had gone up by 280 percent in the current financial year. Similarly, Pakistan's exchange rate has begun to stabilize due to enhanced external flows while Pakistan Stock Exchange has been declared by Bloomberg as the best performing market in the world.

France Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Marc Barety said he was impressed with the work done by the government in Pakistan to introduce institutional reforms and achieve stability and growth.

He said both France and Pakistan enjoyed good relationship and he hoped the relationship would further deepen in coming days through greater economic collaborations and business partnerships.-PR