Govt confident to surpass growth target as economy progressing in positive direction: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: The government is confident to surpass the growth target of 2.4 percent set for the current fiscal year (2019-20) as after gaining stability on external front during the past year, the economy has been currently moving on positive direction, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference along with economic team of the government, the advisor said there had been considerable growth in exports, which grew from $2.01 billion during first two months of last year to Rs2.23 million this year, while imports have declined from $5 billion to $4.1 billion, reducing overall current account deficit of the country by 73%.

The advisor was accompanied by Federal Minister for Planning and Reforms Khusroo Bakhtiyar, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Textile, Investment and Industries, Razzak Dawood, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nadeem Babar and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shabbar Zaidi.

On the other hand, the overall revenue has also increased from Rs 509 billion during the first two months of the last year to Rs 580 billion during the current year, showing 25 percent growth. He was of the view that keeping in view the decline in imports, there has been decrease in revenues adding that the non imports revenues surged by 40% during the period.