ISLAMABAD, July 04 (APP): Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Thursday termed the approval of the Extended Fund Facility of six billion dollar by IMF as a confidence of international community of on leadership, saying that it will give a positive message about Pakistan and dollars will bring sustainable economic growth to the country.
The Adviser expressed these views while briefing the media persons here at Ministry of Finance along with Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar and FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi.
The Adviser further said that the approval of three years IMF fund will encourage other international financial institutions to release funds to Pakistan. He added that Asian Development Bank will provide additional fund of 3.2 billion dollar whereas World Bank will also provide additional fund to Pakistan which will help to stabilize our economy.
The adviser said that our economy is facing difficult situation and we have to take difficult decisions which bring positive results and we will came out of this situation.
He reiterated the government commitment to extend the tax base and said that we are making efforts to expend the tax base and protect the deserving segment of the society. We have taken initiatives in the budget to provide maximum relief to masses at grass root level and for micro-economic stability of the country.
He was of that view that like a responsible government we are committed at minimizing our expenditures to utilize those resources for national causes.
He added that the previous governments badly neglected the export sector but we are making efforts to increase exports and reduce the imports bill. A strong exports sector will help to overcome the issue of unemployment and help to strengthen our economy, he added.
Talking about the Asserts Declaration scheme (ADS) he said that it aimed at extending tax net and about 0.137 million people registered themselves with FBR which is the historical number while the value of the registered arrests is about 70 billion.
He added that under this scheme a large number of new tax payers were added in the system which is a positive sign for our economy.
VNS Islamabad
