The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the government to take drastic measures for overcoming the rising fiscal deficit that has crossed Rs.1.92 trillion during the first nine months (July-March) of current fiscal year as growing deficit would further weaken the economy and create more problems for the country
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan Point News / Online - 22nd May, 2019) The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the government to take drastic measures for overcoming the rising fiscal deficit that has crossed Rs.1.92 trillion during the first nine months (July-March) of current fiscal year as growing deficit would further weaken the economy and create more problems for the country.Ahmed Hassan Moughal President, RafatFarid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that during the first nine months of current fiscal year, government made total expenditures of over Rs.
5.50 trillion while its total revenue remained around Rs.3.58 trillion which showed that government remained unsuccessful in controlling expenditures and improving revenue generation. They said it was the highest fiscal deficit in first nine months during the last 10 years. They said such state of affairs was raising many questions on the performance of the current government.Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that during last quarter (January-March 2019), government expenditure touched Rs.
900 billion while revenue remained far short of desired level, which should be a cause of concern for the policymakers. He said that deficit made significant jump despite a steep fall of 34 percent in development spending in the first nine months of the fiscal year, which was not a healthy sign for economy. He said that big cut in development spending also caused slowdown in business activities as the growth of businesses was directly linked with increase in development spending.
