ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the government has rescued the crippling economy and averted default in the face of serious inherited challenges on internal and external fronts.
While launching the Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23 at a Ceremony in Islamabad on Thursday, Ishaq Dar said that the outgoing fiscal year was a challenging one.
However, the government tried to effectively cope with the situation. As a result, he said, the declining trend has stopped and now efforts are underway to revamp economy and bring financial stability to the Country.
Also Read: Highlights of Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23
Presenting the statistics of the Economic Survey, Ishaq Dar said that primary balance surplus of over Rs 99 billion has been recorded while the Current Account Deficit (CAD) reduced by 76 percent to US$ 3.3 billion during the first 10 months of the current Fiscal Year 2022-23.
Ishaq Dar said that the tax collection increased by 18.1 percent to Rs 6,938.2 billion.
Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar addressed the media persons at the launching ceremony of Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23 along with Federal Minister for Planning & Dev Ch. Ahsan Iqbal and Federal Minister for Industries Syed Murteza Mehmood. pic.twitter.com/9hkKnNznp0
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinistryPak) June 8, 2023
The finance minister said that the GDP posted a growth of 0.29 percent, terming it a realistic one. He said that agriculture grew by 1.55 percent while industry, manufacturing and construction sectors showed negative growth due to slowdown in global and domestic economic activity and contractionary macroeconomic policies.
The minister said that the IT sector posted a trade surplus of US$ 1.72 billion, showing an increase of 16.7 percent compared to the last year.
Ishaq Dar said that electricity, gas, and water supply and the other sub-sector of Industry posted a growth of six percent.
The services sector growth remained 0.86 percent.
During July-March FY 2022-23, 21,117 new companies were incorporated with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) which is 5.9 percent higher than the same period last year.
The finance minister said that imports witnessed a decline of 29.2 percent while the exports 12.1 percent. He said that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remained US$ 1,170 million.
Senator Ishaq Dar said that the literacy rate increased in both rural and urban to 54% and 77.3% percent respectively.
Ishaq Dar said that despite economic constraints, the government has focused on providing relief to different segments of society. These included Kissan package worth Rs 1,800 billion, enhancing allocation for Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and the recent reduction in the prices of petroleum products.
The finance minister said that the government’s vision is to restore macroeconomic stability and achieve inclusive and resilient growth trajectory. He said the government has now given a roadmap of five Es for the next year.  He said that exports, equity, empowerment, environment and energy will serve as a driving force for the economy.
Ishaq Dar said that the coalition government is committed that all sovereign liabilities must be paid on time. He said that the coalition government paid back a debt of US$ 6.5 billion including US$ 5.5 billion commercial banks debt and bond worth US$ 1 billion.
Regarding the dollar exchange rate, Ishaq Dar said that our currency is under value and it is depreciating due to certain reasons and we are trying hard to address this issue.
The Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that we have doubled the development budget to Rs 1,100 billion.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the budget of Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been increased to Rs 60 billion from Rs 26 billion. He said that Rs 80 billion in the development budget will include important initiatives aimed at development of the Country.
