Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday stated that the country’s economy was finally heading in the right direction. In a series of tweets, the prime minister said, “Pakistan economy is finally heading in the right direction as more of our economic reforms bear fruit.”

He said that the country’s current account turned into surplus for the first time in four years. “Current account balance was +$99mn in October 2019 as compared to -$284mn in September 2019 and -$1,280mn in October 2018.”

“For the first four months of our fiscal year our current account deficit has fallen by 73.5 per cent compared to the same period last fiscal year. Our exports of goods and services in October 2019 rose 20 per cent over the previous month and 9.6 per cent over Oct 2018,” he held.

I congratulate our exporters and encourage them to do more, the prime minister noted. Earlier, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had remarked that the “dark days are behind us'” as signs of economic turnaround were emerging due to the efforts of the present government for the revival of the economy. Shaikh said that exports had started to increase due to government’s efforts. He identified various steps taken by the government to revive the sluggish economy, including measures to deal with current account deficit and improve tax collection. He said the government has recently announced a Rs 200 billion package to facilitate exporters. “The thrust is being shifted from cheaper imports to offering benefits to exporters,” Shaikh held. “The government has offered a lot of concessions to traders, but there is a need to start from somewhere in respect of the documentation of economy.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan met Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, according to a statement from the Prime Minister House.

The PM House stated that in the meeting today, the prime minister and the DG ISI discussed matters related to national security. On Friday, PM Imran Khan met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the security situation of the country. The prime minister and the army chief exchanged views on the situation in occupied Kashmir, the western border and internal security of Pakistan. The prime minister appreciated the efforts of the armed forces to facilitate social and economic progress.