‘Economic indicators, social spending on upward trajectory’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaaf (PTI) government has started yielding results in the form of improved economic indicators, which was providing necessary cushion to further strengthen the social safety nets.

The government managed to put the economy back on track by introducing financial discipline and taking politically tough and unpopular decisions.

“Putting the economic indicators back on the positive trajectory was a Herculean task for the present government as it inherited an economy with a major balance of payment crisis which led to high inflation and low growth,” said a press release received here on Monday.

The Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) has shown significant growth so far in the current fiscal year. The LSM grew by 7.4 percent in October and 14.5 percent in November which was the highest monthly growth in twelve years. The manufacturing recovery was also becoming broader with 12 out of 15 sub sectors registering positive growth leading to employment generation, the release added.

The incentives given to the industries including the construction sector have triggered an economic activity in the country, it said.

It further said that with the industries operating at its full capacity, there has been a significant increase in the exports and the exports reached to US $ 2.3 billion in December 2020, highest in seven years.

The exports of textile industry, it added went up by US $1.4 billion in December 2020, thus achieving the highest ever growth for any month and cement sale witnessed highest ever sale in October 2020.

Regardless of debt servicing of about US $10 billion annually, the foreign exchange reserves have reached about US $ 20 billion, highest since January 2018.

It further said that commercial bank deposits have witnessed highest growth in eighteen years. The current account has shown a surplus of US $1.6 billion during first five months of current financial year against a deficit of US $1.7 billion in the corresponding period last year.

There has also been the lowest rise in the external debt in the financial year 2020 and that the loans taken by the present government were used to retire the ones taken by the previous governments.

“Pakistan’s improved ranking in the Ease of Doing Business index and the steps taken to facilitate the investors will also attract both foreign and domestic investments,” it said adding that apart from bringing improvement in economy, the government was also focusing to provide relief to the disadvantaged segments of the society.”

The budget of Ehsaas program has been doubled if compared with that of the year 2018. The cash assistance provided to millions of deserving families in most transparent manner in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak helped to protect and mitigate the sufferings of vulnerable segments of society.