Daily Times

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the government had been focusing to improve the real sector growth through promotion of agriculture, industrial and services sectors of economy.

“The government is focused on bringing improvement in the real sector growth through inclusive growth in agriculture, industrial and services sectors,” he informed the Senate in a written reply to a question raised by a member of the Upper House.

He said that realizing the importance of sub-sectors of the economy, the government had initiated different programmes including National Agriculture Emergency Program (NAEP) under which thirteen mega projects worth Rs277 billion were under execution currently.

He said that the objective of NAEP was to bring about improvements in water availability, soil conservation and shrimp fanning and establishing new agriculture markets.

The minister added that Rs10.964 billion mega project National Oilseed Enhancement Program (NOEP) under NAEP was launched to boost the adoption of oilseed crops at cost of Rs10.964 billion for 5 years.

Likewise, the government allocated Rs10 billion for locust control in current budget while an amount of Rs 12billion was allocated under Public Sector Development Programme 2020-21 for ensuring food security and promoting agriculture sector.

He said that the government enhanced agriculture credit disbursement by 3.5 percent during the fiscal year 2020 to Rs 1214.7 billion as compared to the corresponding period of last year while during the During the first three months of financial year 2020-21, agriculture credit disbursement stood at Rs250 billion.

Meanwhile, to support industrial sector, the government had taken many initiatives including reduction of Federal Excise Duty (FED) on cement from Rs2 per kilogram to Rs1.5 per kilogram, relaxation of excise duties on textile items, Rs33 billion markup subsidy for construction sector, Export Finance Scheme (EFS) maintained at 3 percent while Long Term Finance Facility (KTFF) was reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent.

Likewise, the State Bank of Pakistan had announced additional support of Rs190 billion for exporters and investors, he added.

The minister said that the government measure in agriculture, industries and external sector along with controlling inflationary pressures would not only stimulate the economic growth but would also provide significant support in reducing the poverty.

In addition, Shaikh added, the government also took many initiative to promote growth and reduce poverty. These included, the targeted poverty reduction intervention made through Ehsaas Program, BISP, Sehat Sahulat Program, expanding coverage of Weseela-e-Taleem Program, 10 billion Tree Tsunami Program and Clean and Green Pakistan.

Under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program total allocation of Rs144 billion were being disbursed for immediate cash relief of Rs12,000 each to 12 million families while under the Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme Rs100 billion would be provided under low cost loans for youth to set up or expand business.

He said that the government also acted timely and announced the largest ever fiscal stimulus package of Rs1240 billion to covers emergency response of Rs190 billion, support to business Rs480 billion and Relief to Citizens Rs570 billion to mitigate the negative impacts of Covid-19.

All these measures were an indication of government’s commitment to correct the fundamentals of the economy through effective policy-making and targeted reforms in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.

Production of cars

The sale and production of cars in the country has witnessed an increase of 13.42 and 1.93 percent respectively during the first half of financial year 2020-21 as compared to corresponding period of last year.

During the period under review, as many as 67,026 cars were sold against the sale of 59,094 units while the production of cars increased from 60,862 units to 62,041 units, showing growth of 13.42 and 1.93 percent respectively, according to Pakistan Automobile Manufacturing Association (PAMA).

Among cars, the sale of Honda cars showing increase of 72.90 percent from 6,916 units in last year to 11,958 units during current year under review while Suzuki Swift sale dipped by 12.14 percent from 1,136 units to 998 units during FY 2020-21.

The sale of Toyota Corolla went down from 11,742 units to 8,427 units, showing decreased of 28.23 percent, the data revealed.

Similarly, the sale of Suzuki Cultus however going up from 6,609 units to 7,517 units, witnessing increase of 13.73 percent while the sale of Suzuki Wagon-R also rose by 20.50 percent from 4,546 units to 5,478 units.

The sale of Suzuki Bolan also witnessed increase of 28.38 percent from 2,790 units to 3,582 whereas the sale Suzuki Alto however witnessed decreased of 31.43 percent from 23,658 units to 16,221 units.

On the other hand, the production of Honda cars went up by 86.91 percent from 6,258 units to 11,697 units whereas the production of Suzuki Swift witnessed decline of 21.84 percent from 911 units to 712 units during six months of FY 2020-21.

The production of Toyota Corolla decline from 11,805 units to 8,440 units, showing decreased of 28.50 percent, it added.

The production of Suzuki Cultus however increased from 6,726 units to 7,582 units, witnessing increase of 12.72 percent while the production of Suzuki Wagon-R witnessed a sharp decline of 33.94 percent from 6,744 units to 4,455 units.

Meanwhile, the production of Suzuki Bolan witnessed nominal decline of 1.18 percent from 3,711 units to 3,667 units while the production of Suzuki Alto also decreased by 48.45 percent from 24,707 units to 12,734 units during July-December (2020-21).