ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the Fruits of the government’s difficult decisions made during the last one year had started emerging and the world institutions, including the World Bank had acknowledged the very fact.He told this to his economic team, which reviewed the progress made on the decisions taken in previous meetings and discussed also the current economic situation in the country. Prime Minister chaired the meeting.The Prime Minister said that economic indicators were quite encouraging, which the government would further improve through its concerted efforts.He reiterated that to keep the prices of essential commodities under check wasthe government’s top priority and he also laid emphasis on making every possible effort to provide relief to the common man.The meeting was informed that during the last few months, owing to the government measures, the current account deficit had been controlled while the budgetary deficit would also be controlled.The forum was also told that positive results were emerging from the economic sector and there had been improvement in the economic indicators as well. Moreover, the direction of the national economy had been put in the right direction because of the government policies.There was 15-16 percent improvement in the FBR collections and no more borrowing was made from the State Bank of Pakistan. A strict policy was being followed with regards to the financial discipline and during the first quarter of the current financial year, no supplementary grant was issued, resulting in saving up to Rs40-50 billion and further increase was on the cards due to tax collection.The meeting also took stock of the supply and demand of the daily use items and how to controlling their prices. In this connection, administrative measures were reviewed.The Prime Minister instructed the concerned quarters to keep strict vigil on the rates of essential commodities. To accelerate the pace of economic activities in the country and timely spending of the allocated amounts for the developmental projects, it was decided that there should be strict monitoring on the pace of work on the projects.In this connection, the Prime Minister said that progress on the ongoing projects of all the ministries should be submitted to him on monthly basis. He also called for making the mechanism of progress on developmental projects more effective.Various proposals regarding strengthening of the banking courts were presented to the Prime Minister, who called for giving them final shape after consultations with the Ministry of Law within ten days so that implementation of the same could be started.The meeting also reviewed the steps with regards to the revival of the sick units. A report on the economic team’s decisions taken so far and the state of implementation of the same was also presented to the Prime Minister.Among other important matters, increasing exports to China, the launching of Pakistan Banao Certificates, reforms in FBR, improvement in agriculture sector, North-South Gas Pipeline Project, headway on ML-1 project, establishment of tourism centres on Gadani port coastal area, establishment of Public-Private Partnership Authority, revival of Pakistan Steel Mills and other projects were discussed during the meeting.Those, who attended the meeting, included Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Minister for Planning and Development Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi, Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to PM Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant Nadeem Babar, BOI Chairman Zubair Gillani, SBP Governor Reza Baqir, FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing Authority Lt-Gen. (R) Anwar Ali Haider, Shaukat Tareen and senior officials.
11-05-2019, 11:19 AM
Fruits of govt?s decisions start emerging, says Imran
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