Current economic situation revive confidence of businesses: Tarin

ISLAMABAD: The current economic situation has revived the confidence of the business community for rapid economic growth in the country, a senior government official said.

Addressing the meeting of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies Coordination Board on the current economic situation of the country, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin highlighted the major incentives given in the budget due to which the confidence of businessmen was improving and the economy was moving towards stability, a statement said.

The minister said all the key economic indicators relating to the real sector of the economy, fiscal sector, monetary and external sectors were going well and the government was proactively executing all the policy measures to achieve the major socioeconomic targets of the current fiscal year.

Tarin also highlighted the possible risks to the economic activities and strategy to counter these risks, which were appreciated by the members of the board.

Finance secretary Yusuf Khan briefed the members on the budgetary allocations for various activities and informed about the ways and means to maintain the fiscal discipline.

He also shared the strategy to contain the non-development expenditures with the focus to optimally utilise resources of the country and improve the service delivery, at large, for the common man.

SBP Governor Reza Baqir informed the board about the monetary policy stance and shared the analysis of the central bank on policy rate, credit availability, exchange rate movement and inflationary situation.

He also explained that the policy mix was supporting the growth momentum and highlighted the increase in the commodities prices in the global market, which have implications for higher import bill and inflation.

Baqir said that it was encouraging signs that exports were picking up along with an increase in the import of machinery, which would enhance the productive capacity of the economy and create exportable surplus.

The SBP governor also explained the policy measures, which the central bank was executing to encourage business activities in various sectors of the economy and highlighted that there were ample opportunities for investors/exporters and youth of the country to take benefit from the SBP schemes to extend or initiate their businesses.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan apprised the meeting about the execution of development activities.

He also highlighted the possible options for resource mobilisation and to utilise them effectively for the development of potential sectors of the economy.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood briefed about the trade structure of the country along with major destinations.

He also presented various measures, which were under execution to enhance exports in potential areas.

Dawood also mentioned various categories of imports, which could be rationalised by focusing on their substitutes.

A comprehensive roadmap was also discussed to minimise the trade deficit of the country. It was also highlighted that the fiscal and monetary facilitation would continue for potential sectors of the economy.

Dr Asad Zaman appreciated the major fiscal and monetary measures of the government, which were supporting the business activities.

He also highlighted the potential areas where Pakistan had comparative advantages in the export market and also identified some low hanging fruits for import substitution.

Dr Zaman emphasised that the goal of well-coordinated monetary and fiscal policies was to achieve full employment.

Tarin emphasised the importance of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies Coordination Board for designing and executing policies to achieve economic targets and overcome the possible risks.

He advised to make this forum more effective for maintaining better coordination of policies and to achieve the planned macroeconomic goals.