Govt for maximum relief to people  in upcoming budget: Hafeez Sheikh

• He said without enhancing trade and business relations with other countries, the country could not progress.
• He said the government was trying to resolve issues of the people being confronted by them presently in the upcoming budget.

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs Abdul Hafeez Sheikh Tuesday said the government was preparing 'Corona Budget' and trying to provide maximum relief to the people in the upcoming budget.

Talking to a private news channel, he said the government was facilitating the business community as it was playing an important role for boosting economic activities in the country.

He said without enhancing trade and business relations with other countries, the country could not progress. He said the government was trying to resolve issues of the people being confronted by them presently in the upcoming budget.

The adviser said the government was facing the challenges of coronavirus and economy at the same time and it was making efforts to strengthen the national economy and combating COVID-19 effectively.

He said the government would introduce an agricultural policy in collaboration with all provinces and added we had to take important decisions for bringing improvement in this sector.

He said the government was trying to reduce the prices of fertilizer to facilitate the farmers.

Replying to a question, he said decreasing prices of electricity was a big challenge for the government but it was trying to provide some relief to the people in that regard and the government had already provided subsidies on electricity to 72 percent consumers.

He said the prime minister was paying special attention to energy sector. Oil prices had reduced at international level and it would be helpfully produce energy on low cost.

He said coronvirus had badly effected the national economy and there was a dire need to bridge the gap between the exports and imports and we had to increase our exports at large scale.

To another query, he said the government would facilitate the construction industry in the coming budget, adding it had reduced 90 per cent tax for Pakistan Housing Scheme.

He said objective of the government was to provide maximum relief to the people and make their lives easy.