PML-N govt comparative performance of 5 years prepared

Islamabad: Ministry of Finance has prepared comparative performance of last five years during the PML-N led regime, showing that the prices of petroleum products reduced significantly as price of petrol came down from Rs106 per liter on March 1, 2013 to Rs88.07 per liter on March 1, 2018.

According to comparison done by the Ministry of Finance and available with The News, the price of diesel reduced from Rs113.56 per liter on March 1, 2013 to Rs98.45 per liter on March 1, 2018. The price of kerosene oil came down from Rs103.69 per liter on March 1, 2013 to Rs76.45 per liter on March 1, 2018.

However, the Ministry did not explain that how much the prices of petroleum products reduced in international market. When the prices of POL products are linked with international price then how the government can claim its performance if prices reduced or increased internationally.

The government claimed that the debt to GDP ratio stood at 60.2 percent of GDP in 2013 which increased to just 61.6 percent by 2017. The Ministry of Finance did not explain that the definition of debt was changed and external liabilities were excluded from definition of debt under amended Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act approved by the Parliament.

Total transfers to provinces under NFC Award had touched to Rs973.67 billion from 2008-9 to 2012-13. The transfer to provinces had doubled and touched Rs1996.587 billion till fiscal year 2016-17. Now it is expected that this transfer of resources may go up to Rs2400 billion till end June 2018.

The country’s GDP growth went up from 3.68 percent in 2012-13 to 5.28 percent in 2016-17 and average growth rate remained at 4.7 percent in last five years. The industrial growth on average increased from 1.2 percent during 2008-9 to 2012-13 to 5.13 percent from 2012-13 to 2016-17 period.

The large scale manufacturing (LSM) which stood at 0.32 percent on average from 2008-9 to 2012-13 to 4.15 percent on average from 2013-14 to 2016-17. The services sector growth on average stood at 3.6 percent from 2008-9 to 2012-13 to 5.09 percent on average from 2013-14 to 5.09 percent in 2016-17.

The inflation which stood at 7.36 percent in 2012-13 to 4.16 percent in 2016-17. The FBR’s revenues went up from Rs1946 billion in 2012-13 to Rs3367 billion in 2016-17. It is projected to go up to Rs4013 billion till end June 2018.

The development spending has been increased from Rs343 billion in 2012-13 to Rs733 billion in 2016-17. The budget deficit was brought down from 8.2 percent of GDP in 2012-13 to 5.8 percent of GDP in 2016-17.

The remittances sent out by Pakistanis from abroad increased from $13.022 billion in 2012-13 to $19.351 billion in fiscal 2016-17. The foreign exchange reserves went up from $11.02 billion in 2012-13 to $21.403 billion in 2016-17. However, Ministry of Finance did not share the foreign currency reserves position as the reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had slashed down and now stood at below $12 billion mark.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased from $1456 million in 2012-13 to $2730 million in 2016-17. It is projected that the FDI may go up to $3 billion mark till June 30, 2018. The credit to private sector stood at negative 7.6 billion in 2012-13 which had now gone up to Rs747 billion in 2016-17. The agriculture credit had gone up from Rs336 billion in 2012-13 to Rs704 billion in 2016-17.