KAMALIA: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday stressed the need for earning maximum foreign exchange by enhancing exports terming it imperative to make Pakistan self-reliant and reduce dependency on imports and external aid.
Talking to the media during a meeting with the local businesspeople in Kamalia, he said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program is focused on stabilisation of the economy.
He added the government was taking different steps to control double-digit interest rate. Aurangzeb said that economic survival depends on surplus production and exports.
The minister called for political unity and robust reforms in the taxation and energy sectors to put the country on the road to progress and prosperity.
He suggested privatisation as a means to enhance transparency and productivity adding the government had already started work for privatisation of various entities. “Now we are focusing on regulating and expediting the process of privatisation,” he added..
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Aurangzeb said the elite class, enjoying a luxurious lifestyle, would be brought into the tax net as more than 190,000 people had been evading the tax net.
He said the taxes are a lifeline for any economy, saying “we could not manage the country on borrowed money as the countries run on taxes and not on charity”.
He acknowledged that there were some discrepancies in the current taxation system. However, the government was already working to simplify it to tackle the tax evasion issue.
The minister said that many agriculture research institutes were not giving tangible results.
Responding to a question, he made a clear statement that all sugar mills violating the government instructions for clearing dues of the farming community would be sealed.
He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to promote export-led growth, identifying agriculture and Information Technology as crucial sectors to drive Pakistan’s sustainable economic growth.
Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the government has successfully achieved macroeconomic stability, a crucial foundation for GDP growth.
