ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan has described the state of the economy as ‘healthy and stable’, with most of the economic indicators showing positive growth trends as evidenced by stable ratings regularly given to Pakistan by international agencies monitoring.
He was speaking to the participants of the 107th National Management Course (NMC) during their visit to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) House. FBR Chairman Tariq Mahmood Pasha, National School of Public Policy (NSPP) Dean Naeem Aslam and members of the FBR were also present.
Giving an overview of the state of the economy and the growth trends on the revenue generation front, Haroon said the country was well on its way to achieving 6 % GDP growth during the ongoing fiscal as compared to 5.3% growth recorded last year. He said a similar growth trajectory was visible in the revenue collection which had gone up from Rs 1946 billion in 2013 to Rs 3362 billion in 2017, recording an overall 73 % growth in the last four years.
He said the FBR was looking at Rs 4000 billion revenue target for the ongoing fiscal and even though it was a humongous task, efforts made in recent years had paid dividends and made it possible for the government to give away an additional Rs 3500 billion to the provinces under the NFC Award which would not have been possible without optimal resource mobilization. “We have shown results despite a marked decrease in the inflation which is around 4% today, as against 9% in 2013 and almost 25% in 2008-09.
Haroon also dispelled the impression created about the accumulation of government debt which stood at 61% of GDP while it was 60% of GDP in 2013. He said that the external debt was 21% of the GDP in 2013 and it was now 20% of the GDP. He conceded the country’s imports had gone up to $53 billion but “they reflect on the consumption capacity and strength of our economy”. “The situation is obviously challenging and we must do a lot of work to increase our exports.”
