Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that prudent and timely policies of the present government have revived the sagging economy of the country and now internationally reputed monetary organisations are commending Pakistan for heading in the right direction.
Addressing as chief guest at the 12th Businessmen Excellence Award 2013-14 organised by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPPCI) on late Wednesday night, Senator Dar said when PML-N took charge of governance in 2013, the situation was very grim as economy was in a shambles and other problems like terrorism and energy shortage seem uncontrollable. The country’s foreign exchange reserves were also at a lowest level of $2.75 billion, he added.
“In the beginning there was an impression that Pakistan’s economy will destabilize further and foreign exchange reserves will take further plunge. However, due to prudent policies and strict austerity measures adopted by present government, economy is returning to stability and foreign exchange reserves have reached to record 19 billion dollar.”
“We have reduced the annual expenditure of Prime Minister House by 40 per cent and those of federal ministries by 30 per cent. Our government strictly banned import of duty free cars for VVIPs including the President, Prime Minister, Governors and Chief Ministers. Besides we also abolished all kind of discretionary funds of President and Prime Minister,” he said.
He said that the PML-N leadership has ensured good governance, transparency and solving the issues of the public as its top priorities. “The government wants to fully utilize the potential our country has in the shape of natural resources and hard working labour force.”