They pulled us down hard but we’re going up: Dar

Finance minister says sit-ins affected foreign transactions but the economy is improving as forex reserves will reach $15 billion by December end

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar Wednesday said that sit-ins affected foreign transactions during August and September but economic indicators are on positive trajectory and every coming day will witness improvement in economy.

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, Dar said revenue collection during the first four months of the current financial year stood at Rs 718.3 billion as against Rs 628.7 billion during the same period last year, showing an increase of 14.3 percent.

Dar said remittances by overseas Pakistanis during first four months were $ 6.065 billion as against $ 5.276 billion in the same period last year, showing an increase of 15 percent.

The minister said exports during first three months of the current financial year stood at $ 5.96 billion as against $ 6.273 billion in same period last year. This shows a decline of 5.25 percent due to a number of reasons, which are being addressed by ministries of Finance, Commerce and Textiles.

Imports increased by 11.6 percent in first three years as compared to same period last year. The country imported goods worth 11.828 billion dollars during first three months of the current financial year as against 10.598 billion in same period last year.

Inflation rate stood at 7.1 percent in three months as against 8.3 percent same period last year.

The minister said that in October, the inflation stood at 5.8 percent due to decrease in prices of POL products and their impact on commodity prices.

Dar said agricultural credits worth Rs 98.1 billion were disbursed in first three months of the current financial year as against Rs 70.8 billion in same period last year. The overall target for disbursement of agricultural credit this year is Rs 500 billion as against Rs 389 billion rupees actually disbursed last financial year.

The finance minister said in the first quarter this year, 1,058 new companies have been registered as against 926 during same period last year, showing an increase of 14.25 percent. This shows the corporate sector is doing well.

He said government borrowing , which stood at Rs 585 billion in first quarter last year has been brought down to Rs 104 billion rupees in first three months of the current financial year.

Foreign exchange reserves stand at $ 13.277 billion and the target of $ 15 billion dollars would hopefully be achieved by the end of next month.