ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday rejected the rumors that Pakistan was about to default and assured that Pakistan’s is resilient and it will survive all challenges.
He was addressing (through a video link) to the audience of capital market players including Chairperson PSX Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, MD Farukh Khan and Arif Habib in connection with an event organized with regard to the first listing of a development REIT titled “Globe Residence REIT”.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar virtually addressed a ceremony to mark the first listing of the Developmental Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on Pakistan Stock Exchange. pic.twitter.com/9WIh0ba2VM
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinistryPak) December 28, 2022
The Finance Minister condemned that certain elements involved in dirty politics were active in spreading disinformation about the country’s economic condition which triggered chaos and the people had started buying gold and dollars.
He expressed his satisfaction with the listing of another RIET at PSX. However, he observed that Pakistan could not progress much on this account since the first REIT was listed in 2015. He referred to India who had a high REIT portfolio.
He said when he took over as the Federal Finance Minister on September 28, 2022, he identified the areas with a special focus on the corporate sector, the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
He regretted that the SECP, which is the regulator of the capital market of the country, performed poorly over the last couple of years. However, he said he has taken certain concrete steps to help improve its performance.
Referring to his previous tenure, Dar said he along with his team, had worked hard and brought many amendments to the SECP laws including its outdated Act. And, he continued, these initiatives had helped give a boost to the capital market of the country.
He recalled that the challenges in the merger of the Karachi Stock Exchange, Lahore Stock Exchange and Islamabad Stock Exchange into one entity branded as the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), which helped the Pakistan stock market to emerge as the fifth leading market in the world. “I wish those golden days would come back.”
He assured Arif Habib and PSX’s Managing Director Farrukh Khan that Commissioner SECP Abid Saeed along with his team would sit down with them and work out the proposals submitted by them to a logical conclusion. He also vowed to ask Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) authorities to join them and work on these proposals.
The Finance Minister thanked the business community of the country for their support to the government’s policies and decisions aimed at strengthening the national economy.
He mentioned that in year 2013 with the support of the business community, the PML-N Government turned around the sinking economy. He said that because of the flawed policies and non-professional approach by the previous government, Pakistan’s economy faces serious challenges today, mainly financial stress.
“Today, we are knocking at the doors for even a little amount of one billion dollars,” he said, adding that today Pakistan had reached the point that it did not deserve.
Senator Ishaq Dar said he had also held a session with Governor State Bank of Pakistan Jameel Ahmed on prioritizing the imports in the country and said that the Central Bank on Tuesday issued a guideline to the commercial banks to facilitate the imports of essential items like food, medicine, industrial raw materials and machinery, especially for the exports ordinated units.
He hoped that soon the forex and remittances portfolio would improve. He clarified that Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 72 percent which was lower than many countries and this suggested a comfortable situation.
The Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue mentioned the main reasons behind the pressure on the availability of dollars was that dollars, wheat and fertilizers were being smuggled to a neighboring country while big stocks of wheat and fertilizers were being imported which were provided to the people at a subsidized price.
“This all cost heavily to the Government in terms of dollars. Our law enforcing agencies are reacting tough to the smuggling and would control it,” he said and added that the recent floods had also left serious challenges for the government.
He assured that the agreement with the IMF would be successfully signed. It was only the PML-N governments who always successfully dealt with the IMF, he asserted.
“We have brought the IMF back in six months,” he commented and said that the government was trying to provide possible relief to the people.
“Soon the Inflation would start to come down and the balance of payments would also be rectified, as we are taking steps to bring down the current account deficit of the country. I am confident that Pakistan’s capital market would progress,” he asserted.
The Finance and Revenue Minister said instead of looking outside sources like the Paris Club, Pakistan’s ultimate goal should be strengthening its domestic capital market and making the best use of indigenous resources.
He said the government was also working on launching more Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and strengthening the agriculture sector to keep intact the food security of the country, rather than going for surplus.
