ISLAMABAD, October 30: Minister for Finance Asad Umar on Tuesday reiterated the government will be obtaining an IMF bailout package for the last time to steer Pakistan out of the current financial crisis.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the minister criticized the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), saying that the talks about economy from the mouth of the PML-N do not seem fine. “Pakistan faces a trade deficit of $35 billion, causing depreciation in the value of money against US dollar,” he said.
Assailing the opposition, he said that the budget deficit soared to 6.6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) during the previous government’s term.
“We want the next IMF programme to be the last one,” Umar added
and expressed confidence that opposition parties will put forward concrete suggestions to achieve that goal. The minister also said that bolstering exports, reducing fiscal and trade deficit and generating job opportunities for the youth are the priorities of the government to steer the country out of current economic crisis. He pointed out that short term stabilization has been achieved as a result of some steps in the past two months. He also said that the stock markets are now witnessing stabilization. – Agencies
