ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Finance Asad Umar has said that the incumbent government is aware of the inflation but it is too less than it was during first eight months of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regimes.
Talking to media persons in Islamabad on Friday, Asad Umar said that in first seven months of the PML-N government, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was US$ 573 million which is US$ 1441 million in the same period of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
The finance minister said that the public debt was US$ 3.7 billion in the last six months of the PML-N government which is US$ 1.7 billion in the first six months of the PTI administration.
When @ImranKhanPTI was delivering a hard hitting speech in Khyber @Asad_Umar was telling us in Islamabad that Pakistan will sign a “last” deal with IMF soon and rupee will not be devalued after that he gave a first 9 month comparison of dollar rate of PPP,PML-N and PTI Govts pic.twitter.com/TPIPiaiCji
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) April 5, 2019
وزیر خزانہ اسد عمر کہتے ہیں مہنگائی میں اضافہ ہوا ہے لیکن پیپلز پارٹی اور مسلم لیگ ن کے ادوار سے کم ہوا وہ کہتے ہیں گاڑیوں کی فروخت بڑھ گئی اور موٹر سائیکلوں کی کم ہو گئی کیا اسکا مطلب یہ نہیں کہ امیر مزید امیر اور غریب مزید غریب ہو رہے ہیں غریب موٹر سائیکل خریدنے کے قابل نہیں pic.twitter.com/tZL0WuQBda
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) April 5, 2019
Asad Umar said that the trade and current account deficit have reduced as a result of prudent economic policies of the PTI government. He said that the trade deficit has declined from US$ 24.2 to US$ 21.5 billion and current account deficit came down from US$ 11.4 to US$ 8.5 billion in the last eight months.
The minister said that the current account deficit reduced by 72 percent. He said that balance of payment has also decreased.
In addition, he said that the consumption of petrol, gas and electricity have also increased.
Earlier in his speech at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) shown on television, Asad Umar ruled out a further devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, and urged the people to invest in the stock market and not waste money buying dollars.
The information minister said that there were no demands for what the exchange rate should be in the talks with the International Monitory Fund (IMF).
IMF didn’t demand to keep the Rupee ER at a certain value. Overvalued Rs damaged our economy & idea is to ally it with its fundamentals. The standard for that is Real Effective Exchange Rate, SBP has categorically said that Rs is in equilibrium & no major devaluation is expected. pic.twitter.com/24uVIqXDZL
— PTI (@PTIofficial) April 5, 2019
