Ishaq Dar says stabilising Pakistan’s economy govt’s top priority

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar has reiterated that stabilising Pakistan’s economy was the government’s top priority, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The finance minister made these remarks during a meeting with heads of all the major Forex Exchange Companies of Pakistan here at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Pasha, Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad and senior officers from the Finance Division and State Bank of Pakistan attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Ishaq Dar while highlighting the economic situation of the country stated that stabilizing Pakistan’s economy was the government’s top priority.

“For this purpose, the government had taken tough decisions in the past few months, which were essential to put Pakistan on the path of economic recovery,” he noted.

He further said that the catastrophic floods had compounded the difficulty but the government was confident that through prudent policies, the challenges to Pakistan’s economy will be effectively tackled.

He emphasised that the present government with its pragmatic policy decisions has not only arrested the economic decline but has also set the economy in the right direction.

Ishaq Dar further expressed the resolve of the government to ensure stable economic and fiscal policies and requested the forex companies to ensure appropriate exchange rates for the betterment of the Country.

The heads of exchange companies discussed broader economic issues and matters impacting the forex market. They proposed measures to bring about stability in the USD-Pak Rupee exchange in Pakistan.

They affirmed that the real exchange rate is much lower than the prevailing exchange rate in the market and hoped that the recent measures taken by the State Bank of Pakistan will very soon bring down the exchange rate to its real level.

Heads of leading Exchange companies of Pakistan showed their unwavering trust in government’s fiscal and monetary policies and expressed their strong commitment to work in tandem with the State Bank of Pakistan to achieve this objective.