Shaukat Tarin while addressing a press conference said that sustainable growth is imperative and should be the main focus instead of current account deficit and inflation which will reduce eventually.
Tarin said that the previous government’s main focus was on the fundamentals including industry, agriculture and exports. He said that the initiatives such as Kamyab Jawan and other programs have had a very positive impact on the grass root levels and he is hopeful they will be continued by the incoming government.Â
" Economic fundamentals are strong. The recent pressure on the rupee and the stock exchange was political uncertainty and hence speculative. With political dust settling down, economic strength has emerged again. Well done PTI."
— Shaukat Tarin (@shaukat_tarin) April 11, 2022
Tarin said that the main reason behind the increase in dollar rate was due to political uncertainty. The dollar rate went up to Rs190 before it started to decrease. In the floating exchange rate the dollar can move either way and speculation can move it in any direction. Train said that the rupee is still under valued, it should be around Rs175 to Rs177.
In addition he said that the same is true for the stock exchange which is affected by political uncertainty and bounces back once conditions are stable. Train said to gauge the condition of the economy one should look at the fundamentals of growth in industry, agriculture, services and exports.
“Both stock market and floating exchange rate are affected by political instability, instead we should look at the fundamentals for economic growth,” he said.
Tarin, while answering the question on current account deficit, said that it was at $12 billion at the end of nine months, the main reason has been increase in imports which mainly include increase in petroleum products of $6.5 billion, vaccines $3 billion, imported coal $1 billion and crude oil $1 billion. According to Tarin, the increase in international commodity prices was the main factor behind the increase in import cost. Tarin said that exports have increased by 25 percent and considering Pakistan is in a growth stage, had the international commodity prices remained stable the country would have had a current account surplus instead of a deficit.
Train said that the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government also had planned to increase basic pay to Rs25,000 and increase pension after looking at the Pay and Pension Commission report which is due on April 15, 2022.
