Finance minister calls for expanding Pakistan's tax-to-GDP ratio

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves are expected to hover between $9 to 10 bln by June.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 7th Leaders in Islamic Business Summit in Islamabad, Muhammad Aurangzeb said at present the foreign exchange reserves stand at eight billion dollars.

He said the last tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby arrangement will take the foreign exchange reserves to over nine billion dollars. He said this is a much better position in comparison to the previous year when the foreign exchange reserves had dipped to three point four billion dollars.

The finance minister also expressed satisfaction over the bumper crops saying the agriculture is growing by five percent.

Muhammad Aurangzeb said the stock market is at an all-time high and foreign buyers are also coming to Pakistan.

Aurangzeb said the government has initiated discussions with the IMF for a larger and longer program to bring permanence to macroeconomic stability and ensure the execution of the structural reforms agenda.

He said the government has set targets to keep current account deficit and fiscal deficit within reasonable limits.

He said tax collection increased by 30.2 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The minister also underlined the need to expand the tax-to-GDP ratio.

The finance minister said the government is working to attract foreign direct investment in the country.