Govt Taking All Possible Steps To Control Inflation, Says Tarin

(@fidahassanain)

Govt taking all possible steps to control inflation, says Tarin

Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat says the government is extremely working to develop information technology, agriculture and housing sectors to provide people a better life.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-May 6th, 2021) Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Thursday said the government was taking all possible steps to control inflation, and increase revenue and growth rate.

Talking to a tv, Shaukat Tarin said the government was extensively working to develop information technology, agriculture, and housing sectors to provide people a better life.

The minister said budget 2021-22 would be announced by next month.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen said the government was pursuing a policy to take the economy towards growth mode.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said the goal would be achieved by incentivizing the industries, agriculture and housing sectors. This, he said, would provide job opportunities to the people.

Unveiling the way forward, he said twelve working groups had been constituted in the Economic Advisory Council to frame short, medium and long term policies for different sectors.

The Finance Minister said that price stability was our key focus and it was the aim of the government to check the inflation to provide relief to the common man.

Shaukat Tareen said the scope of social protection would be further expanded under Ehsaas Program. Healthcare, employment and skills development would also be made part of it.

The Finance Minister pointed out that the FBR did some good work to enhance the revenue collection. However, more programs would be announced in the next budget to eliminate harassment to encourage the people to pay taxes. He said there was growth of fifty seven percent in revenue collection in the month of April this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. He said it was our target to further expand the tax base.

The Finance Minister said that reforms in the energy sector would be introduced and spending on the agriculture sector would be increased to strengthen this vital sector of economy.

Shaukat Tareen said we also want to bring Foreign Direct Investment in the export oriented industries in order to bolster our exports. He said there was a great potential of growth in the IT. Its exports would remain two billion Dollars this year and these could be enhanced to eight billion dollars in the next two to three years.

He said a program would be introduced to increase loans for the small and medium enterprises. Similarly, Kamyab Jawan and Kamyab Kisan programs would be further strengthened to bring prosperity at the grassroots level.

The Finance Minister said Pakistan would not come out of the IMF program but it would seek space from the financial institution given the current situation of COVID-19. He said they had already held some good talks with the IMF and the World Bank.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.