Trade deficit reduced by 35pc, budget deficit by 36%
Islamabad
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Saturday said that trade and fiscal deficits have been brought under control during the first quarter, both key indicators have shown improvement by approximately 35%.
While addressing a joint press conference with FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, here, he said that the trade deficit shrank 35% while the budget deficit reduced 36% during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (July-September) as compared to the previous year.
“The difficult decisions taken by the government have started showing positive results,” said the de-facto finance minister. The federal budget deficit that had been recorded at Rs738 billion or 1.9% of GDP in the first quarter of the last fiscal year, was brought down to Rs476 billion or 1.1% of GDP, said the finance adviser.
“The results of the difficult decisions taken by the government are slowly becoming apparent,” he said, adding that international financial organisations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as foreign investors were now giving positive statements about Pakistan.
As a result, the government has also met the International Monetary Fund condition on the primary deficit, which is calculated by excluding the interest payments. “The IMF’s condition was that the primary deficit can be Rs102 billion in the first quarter, we actually have showed primary surplus of about Rs200 billion,” said Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch. The fiscal deficit narrowed down due to increase in revenues and reduction in expenditures, as the finance ministry did not issue any supplementary grant in the first quarter aimed at ensuring the fiscal discipline, said Shaikh.
