Govt taking economy towards stability: Hammad Azhar

ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar holding the previous governments responsible for current economic turmoil on Friday said the present government is taking the economy towards stability. 

This he stated while addressing on the floor of the National Assembly.

Hammad Azhar the PML-N government put the economic stability of the country at stake during its last two years in power.

He pointed out that Foreign Exchange Reserves declined by ten billion dollars in the last one and half year tenure of PML-N, the current account deficit also soared to 20 billion dollars during their tenure, adding that the circular debt of 1140 billion rupees was left behind.

He said the present government has reduced the current account deficit by 20 percent and trade deficit by 4 billion dollars.

Azhar said PTI government will enhance the tax to GDP ratio by four percent in the next three years.  He said we have also given a five-year economic plan in the budget and we will also reduce debt to GDP ratio.

The minister also rejected the impression that the government has imposed the taxes on essential commodities including meat, ghee, vegetables and fruits. He said we have only imposed tax on the exotic vegetables and fruits.  He also clarified that the inflation rate in currently 9 percent which was 24 percent in the era of PPP.

Hammad Azhar said that it is for the first time that the House held threadbare discussion on the finance bill. He said 250 members participated in the general discussion on the budget, which reflects the democratic posture of the PTI government and impartiality of the Speaker.

Minister of State for Finance Hamad Azhar has said the PTI government retired 9.5 billion dollars of debt this year.