ISLAMABAD – Ruling out the possibility of default, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that there was a Plan-B in case of delay in revival of International Monetary Fund Programme.
“Pakistan has fulfilled all the IMF conditions. We have Plan-B if the programme is not revived. I cannot give details of Plan-B but one thing is clear that the country will not default”, he said while addressing post budget press conference on Saturday.
Passing on the blame of prevailing economic crisis to the previous regime, Dar said that those who talked about default had themselves made mistakes that causes heavy losses to the country having huge potential. Terming the present budget different from traditional budgets, he said that the progress was the main focus which has a link with the economic growth. He said that enough allocation has been made for the development. He said that Rs1150 billion for PSDP and Rs1559b provincial development budgets could make big difference. He said that provincial development budgets would further in increase as outlay for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were for four months. He went on to say that the proper and transparent implementation of the PSDP and provincial development budgets would help attain the 3.5 per cent growth rate with ease.
He said that two separate committees would be formed within the FBR — one for identifying mistakes and the second one for overseeing business-related issues. He expressed hope that the names for these committees would be finalized by tonight. He said the government would implement doable recommendations of these committees.
Acknowledging the deep and steep vulnerability, he said that the country was now moving towards stability and hopefully the next government would continue journey by following this plan.
Ishaq Dar said that agriculture sector was the main focus due to huge potential and responsiveness. He highlighted measures taken in the budget for bringing a green revolution to attain food security and improving livelihood of growers and other stakeholders.
He said that the IT sector was also a focus as its growth could help the country earn much needed foreign exchange.
He hoped that employment opportunities would increase, leading to the correction of macroeconomic indicators, a reduction in inflation and interest rate.
He said that debt servicing was a big challenge and now efforts have been made to correct the direction. He expressed hope that the atomic country would emerge as an economic power.
Contradicting reports regarding the withdrawal of taxes on import of edible oil, he said that it has not happened and the prices of essential commodity have decreased due to continuous engagement of the government with the local industry.
