National economy is moving towards improvement: Hammad Azhar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar has said that the national economy is moving towards improvement, ARY News reported on Thursday.

First time after four years current accounts are reported surplus, addressing a business forum here he said.

The stock market has added 10,000 points to index, while the number of tax filers have also registered increase, the minister said.

The government is laying foundations for stable and sustainable economic development in the country, he added.

Earlier, speaking at annual conference of the Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) on Wednesday economic affairs Hammad Azhar said that external and fiscal deficits are narrowing down, inflation is expected to decline and growth is going positively.

He said that the major reasons why Pakistan had been facing higher revenue to expenditure gap are low tax to GDP ratio, narrow tax base and undocumented economy adding that the government working on these three most pressing challenges.

The kind of tax collection done presently by the incumbent government is qualitatively different than the ones done in past, he said.

Previously, the major chunk of tax collection was exacted through withholding taxes which are a form of indirect taxation. However, aim of the present government is to ensure maximum collection through direct taxation.

Minister Hammad Azhar said, Pakistan has emerged as one of the biggest improvers in World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business Index, jumping up 28 places on the index.