ISLAMABAD; Advisor to the prime minister on Finance, Shaukat Tarin, on Thursday said the worst is over as bad times created by COVID- 19 pandemic was dying down and claimed that things would get normal in three to four months.
“The government was cognizant of the problem being faced by a certain group of the society, but I want to tell you that things were setting down for good now and everything will get normal in next three to four months”, Shaukat Tarin claimed.
Tarin told a concluding session of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here.
The advisor said the government was making everything possible to offset impact of costly supplies of imported food items and protect lower middle and middle class of the urban areas. He said low middle class and middle class were badly hit by high inflation and the government was taking a number of steps to protect this vulnerable segment of the society. Tarin noted that rural population that makes 62 % of total population of the country was not hit so hard by the current wave of price-hike.
The advisor said Pakistan’s GDP growth was around 4 % last year and it was going to grow at around 5.5% this year. He quoted imcrease by 36 % in revenue collection and 13 % in power consumption as major factors that, in his opinion, were indicative of better GDP growth in the curent fiscal year. He also justifed widening trade gap in imports and exports saying Pakistan has no option, but to take extra hit of billions of dollars due to sudden rise in the prices of petroleum products and rising burden of import of essential food items like sugar, wheat and lentals. The advisor lamented that none prioritises agriculture sector in the last 20 years that turned Pakistan from net exporter of essential food items to net importer . He said due to big increase in petroleum product prices, Pakistan’s net bill for their import has gone- up to $ 24 billion. He said the government was struggling to change agriculture sector into a real backbone of Pakistan’s economy. Tarin said the government will provide interest free loans for many sectors including housing, businesses and industry to help the people generate their source of income. He concluded his address on Imran Khan’s popular phrase ” Khubrana Nahin” Do not worry, good time was coming.
