Feb 07 , 2016
News
Pakistan’s total public debt stands at $51.3 billion
* Dar says number of total registered tax payers in country stands at one million * Fiscal deficit down to 5.3 percent from 8.8 percent in 2013 * Inflation rate lowest in 12 years
APPISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Saturday said the total public external debt as of November 30, 2015 stood at $51.31 billion.
“Under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, the current government has so far received $5.2 billion, out of which it paid back $4.42 billion as debt received by the previous governments,” he told a press conference.
The minister said the total debt of the country increased from Rs 14,400 billion by September 30, 2013 to Rs 18,224 billion by November 30, 2015. He clarified that the government’s debt were not agreed on higher rates as the average cost of total debts remained only 3.3 percent.
Dar said the country was now moving towards right direction and the PML-N government had succeeded in bringing number of reforms in the national economy which was suffering at the time when it took over. “The country’s revenue has witnessed a very good progress during first six months of current fiscal year (2015-16). The revenue collection increased by 18.6 percent to Rs 1385 billion as compared to same period of the previous year,” he said.
The minister said the IMF had also expressed satisfaction over achieving the revenue collection target. He said during first quarter of current fiscal year, the government could not achieve the revenue target of Rs 640 billion and there was a shortfall of Rs 40 billion while in the second quarter, it surpassed the target of Rs 750 billion as it achieved Rs 785 billion. Dar said that the voluntary tax compliance scheme was now being implemented as the act had been signed by the president. He said the basic purpose of the scheme was to promote tax culture in the country and to bring those traders in to the tax net who were not under it.
He said that in 2013, the total registered tax payers in the country were about 700,000 while the number has now increased to over one million. “Through this scheme, hundreds of thousands of new tax payers were expected to come under the tax net which would further increase the revenue collection,” he hoped.
The minister said that Pakistan had for the first time successfully completed the 10th review. He said the government inherited 8.8 percent fiscal deficit when it came into power in 2013 which had now been brought down to 5.3 percent and would further be sliced to 4.3 percent during the current fiscal year. He said the inflation which was 12 percent in 2013 had reduced by 2.1 percent- the lowest in 12 years. He said despite heavy payments in term of energy projects, the foreign exchange reserves had been increased to over US$ 20 billion. He said out of US$ 20.27 billion foreign exchange reserves, the State Bank of Pakistan was holding US$ 15.43 billion while commercial banks have US$ 4.48 billion.
Dar said the present government had adopted fiscal discipline in all financial sectors and the public development expenditure which were only Rs 400 billion had now been increased to Rs 700 billion.
Dar said that government had initiated a number of projects for the generation of electricity across country, adding due to these efforts the government would be able to add 10,000 MW of electricity by the year 2018. This, he said, would help supply of energy not only to domestic sector but also industrial sector, besides import of LNG through a transparent system in order to achieve higher growth trajectory.
He hoped that the government would also achieve the target of GDP growth rate of 5 percent this year and by 2018, the growth rate was likely to remain 6-7 percent.
Regarding petroleum prices, the minister said that the average price of petrol per litre around the globe was $1.19 while its price in Pakistan was only $0.73 per litre. Similarly, the average global price of high speed diesel was $1.05 per litre while in Pakistan it was $0.79 per litre.
To a question regarding PIA issue, the minister said some elements were trying to mislead employees of the airline on privatisation of the national flag carrier. “Some hidden hands are trying to create misunderstanding on the issue of privatisation of PIA regarding their job security,” he said. It is against the policy of government to lay off or send home any employee of the PIA, he said, and added, “We only want this loss making unit to become a profitable entity through strategic partnership.” He strongly denounced politics by some parties over the issue who, he said, were trying to exploit the issue for their own benefit against the country’s interest.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk