ISLAMABAD:Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin Thursday said due to positive development in major sectors of economy including revenue collection, remittances, and exports, the continuity in momentum of gross domestic product (GDP) growth had maintained which was likely to be close to 5% during the current financial year (2021-22).
Addressing a roundtable meeting organized by the United States Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) in Washington DC, the finance minister underlined that the government was firmly committed to all-inclusive and sustainable economic growth with key focus on “bottom-up” approach as envisaged by the prime minister.
The present government inherited a difficult economic situation, he said in a statement received here.
As a consequence of prudent policies and fiscal consolidation efforts, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had exceeded the target of revenue collection by approximately Rs180 billion during the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2021-22.
Similarly our exports were likely to cross $30 billion by the end of financial year 2021-22.
Moreover, the remittances had registered an increase of $2.7 billion during the month of September 2021 and reached $8 billion during the first quarter of FY-2022, he added.
Pakistan was back on growth trajectory due to visionary pro-growth policies of the government, he added.
The finance minister further apprised that the government was taking a number of initiatives to attract foreign investment into the country. For the purpose, full facilitation was being extended and all hurdles were being removed.
He quoted the example of MetLife whose longstanding issue had been recently resolved.
The finance minister said the government was firmly committed to provide an enabling environment for the foreign investors and businessmen.
He invited American enterprises to take advantage of ample opportunities offered by the special economic zones and affirmed full support and facilitation on the occasion.
Representatives from the United States Chamber of Commerce, leading business enterprises, State Bank of Pakistan governor, finance secretary and ambassador of Pakistan to the US participated in the meeting.