FDI, job opportunities witnessing rise in Pakistan: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday said that the foreign direct investment (FDI) and job opportunities in Pakistan have increased owing to the economic policies of the incumbent federal government, ARY NEWS reported.

He said that the top priority of the government is to develop more opportunities for employment and for that purpose they have boosted the construction sector.

Foreign Direct Investment rises 151% to $317.4M in Oct 2020 compared to Oct 2019.
In July-Oct 2020, FDI was $733.1M, 9.1% higher than same period last year.
To further strengthen investors confidence, Govt is promoting ease of doing business with reforms in investment regime. pic.twitter.com/AgxRs7D1cZ

— Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh (@a_hafeezshaikh) November 17, 2020

“We have launched public sector development programme and initiated new housing projects besides also launching Kamyab Jawan Programme in order to improve investments in the country,” he said.

Sharing government’s initiatives to boost the business sector, Hafeez Shaikh said that the government is giving away electricity to businesses on subsidized rates and disbursing loans on lower interest rates.

“These measures are aimed at improving job opportunities in the country,” he said adding that even foreign investments have witnessed an increase as foreign investors brought US$733 million from July to October this year.

Sharing that local companies are enjoying maximum profits owing to government policies, Hafeez Shaikh said that top 100 companies witnessed an increase of 36 percent in their profits recently while the banking sector has seen a jump in profits by 56 percent.

Further shedding light on the government measures to control inflation, Hafeez Shaikh said that the government decided to import 300,000 tonnes of wheat and most of the ships carrying the commodity have arrived in Pakistan.

“We are disbursing this wheat on lower price at utility stores and bachat bazaars,” he said adding that 40,000 tonnes of wheat are being released by the provinces.

The adviser said that the government had also given a Rs 50 billion package to the utility stores for bringing down prices of basic commodities. “We have expanded the sphere of Ehsaas Programme and now monetary support would be provided to seven million people,” he said.