COAS has assured of keeping economy stable: Hammad

LAHORE: Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar on Sunday said Chief of Army Staff (COAS) has assured businessmen that the country’s economy will be kept in a stabilised condition. The minister said that tough economic decisions taken by the incumbent government have started showing positive results.

While addressing a news conference here, he said the economy has achieved stabilisation and will now transition into a growth phase. Talking about economic stability, he said foreign exchange reserves are now stable and the rupee-dollar exchange rate is also stabilising.

He said that the PTI government had inherited a massive debt and had to fulfil immediate commitments of more than $10 billion in loan repayments and interest. The minister held "huge circular debt" responsible for the increasing prices in the power sector. He said the present government had also put in place effective measures which helped stop electricity theft with estimated worth of Rs82 billion during last one year.

Talking about the underprivileged segments of society, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision is to introduce a social safety net for the poorest of the poor in the country. He said the Ehsaas programme launched by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is a major plan for poverty reduction and is a role model for the world to emulate.

Hammad Azhar said the government had managed to stabilise economy as well as improve rupee value against dollar by taking instant and effective measures. To a query, he said India could not use the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as a political tool against Pakistan anymore.