Dar says continued economic reforms to boost growth

KARACHI: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed satisfaction on the country’s macroeconomic stability, while urging the stakeholders to continue reform process and pursue policies that will enhance growth and further inclusion. 

“All the national institutions need to continue the reform process in order to consolidate the economic gains of the last three years,” Dar told a meeting at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).  

The minister reviewed the macroeconomic situation with a special reference to the monetary side for the last fiscal year of 2015/16.

“The meeting noted that the monetary performance remained satisfactory during the quarter ended June,” said a post-meeting statement. “The forex (foreign exchange) reserves reached the highest ever level of $23 billion.” 

The present government has boosted economic growth in the recent years and achieved relative stability through an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program that averted an external payments crisis in 2013.

The IMF, on June 27, completed the second last (eleventh) review of the country’s economic performance under a three-year $6.01 billion extended fund facility program, which will end in September.  The country’s economy is growing at its quickest rate in eight years. Investor confidence has slowly returned to a country that was battered by the global financial crisis.

Analysts lauded the country’s economic performance during the last fiscal year, saying growth rate of 4.7 percent for 2015-16 was strong, given the challenges in the global economy.

The government is targeting a near 16 percent rise in tax revenues in the current fiscal year and vowed to trim fiscal deficit down to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product and planned a rise in tax collection to Rs3.95 trillion.

Minister Dar also desired for enhanced efforts on firming up the strategy for the current fiscal year, “that would be discussed in a follow-up meeting.”   Acting Governor SBP Saeed Ahmed, Deputy Governor Riaz Riazuddin, heads of various departments and other senior officials of the SBP attended the meeting.

The finance minister, shortly after the meeting, left for Dubai on a day's personal visit. He would return home on Sunday and hold a review meeting with the State Bank officials on Monday morning, the statement said.

The central bank is also due to announce its bimonthly monetary policy later this month. In May, the SBP cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.75 percent.