A meeting of the economic team chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday reviewed the current economic situation and steps taken to improve the business climate, increase exports, reduce current account deficit and stabilise economy. The meeting was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Minister for Planning & Development Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar, Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan, Minister for Privatisation Muhammadmian Soomro, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Advisor on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood. The Prime Minister directed his economic team that promotion of SMEs and simplification of procedure must be primary focus of his economic team.
The meeting noted that current financial year since July 2019 has commenced on a positive note, with an official stated that primarily the economic team wanted to pass on benefit of betterment on some fronts to the public. He said that the Prime Minister would be updated on weekly basis by his economic team on the steps taken to increase economic activities. The Prime Minister was informed that exports have registered an increase and the current account deficit has been reduced by 31 percent. It is expected that the fuel prices will also decrease on September 1, 2019. The international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have restored budgetary support.
The meeting was informed that Ecnec also approved Rs 579 billion worth projects in agriculture, water and infrastructure sectors including mass-transit projects for Karachi. The meeting agreed to promote dialogue with the business community to seek their views on increasing the pace of growth and achieving economic stability.
Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Dr Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Nadeem Babar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Board of Investment Chairman Syed Zubair Gilani, FBR Chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jehanzeb Khan and senior officials of the government attended the meeting.