Economy Now On Growth Path, FATF Grey List To End In June: Leader Of The House In The Senate, Syed Shibli Faraz

Leader of the House in the Senate, Syed Shibli Faraz said Tuesday that owing to timely policies of the government, the country's already stabilized economy was now steadily moving towards growth, which is currently also supported by conducive external milieu

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2020 ):Leader of the House in the Senate, Syed Shibli Faraz said Tuesday that owing to timely policies of the government, the country's already stabilized economy was now steadily moving towards growth, which is currently also supported by conducive external milieu.

In an exclusive interview with APP here, he said that the incumbent government had received economy in very shabby condition, however it was now improving as indicated by many economic indicators, including declining inflation and rising exports from the country.

In addition, the current condition at external front also turned favourable for Pakistan as the oil prices in the international market were declining, providing cushion for the government to provide relief to the masses, he added.

The decline in oil prices would also create fiscal space for the government and reduce hardships for the common people as it would help further reduce inflation, he said adding the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation has already decelerated to 12.4 percent in February.

He said that the country's exports were also rising, which is a good sign for economy. He was of the view that although the Corona virus had caused huge damages, however, it also helped Pakistan to enhance its exports by attracting many export orders.

Faraz expressed the hope that Pakistan would come out of Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) grey list during its upcoming session, scheduled in June this year.

He said that the country had already completed 14 points out of 27 point FATF Action Plan and work on others was continuing, which he hoped would be completed before next session to take the country out of grey list.

He said that it was not good for any economy to be in FATF Black List or even in the Grey List, however added that enemy of Pakistan, i.e. India was hell bend to drag Pakistan in black list, which he had miserably failed.

To a question about reduction in State Bank of Pakistan's discount rates, Shibli said that the inflation was coming down and if this trend continues, there definitely would be cut in interest rate.

He said that high interest rates were also affecting stocks as the investors prefer to keep their money in banks for high interest rates instead to venturing for risky businesses.

He said that the things were moving on right direction and expected that the SBP would reduce interest rates after June this year.

For exploiting the conducive export environment, the leader of the house said that there was dire need to increase production for uplifting industrial growth.

He said that textile was major commodity in country's exports and "We need to enhance the production in textile, flour and sugarcane for exporting surplus items to increase our exports.

" He said that because of sound economic policies of the government, country's exports increased in last 8 months and now trade deficit has also declined.

Talking about government priorities, he said that revenue growth and austerity measure were the two pronged policy adopted by the government to decrease the financial deficit.

To a question on Geographical Induction Law (GIL) for proper international branding of Agriculture items including rice, salt and other food items, he said that a law on this had already been approved by Senate of Pakistan and has now been referred the National Assembly for approval.

He said that Generalized System of Presences (GSP-Plus) with European Union was a success, which he said helped enhance country's exports to EU by 40 percent in last eight years.

To another question on Pak-US trade relation and cooperation, he said that Prime Minister Pakistan, Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump had discussed all the issues of bilateral cooperation to promote trade through Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

"We can also get good opportunity to achieve the GSP statues in US to enhance the exports," he added.

To a question about current political environment in the country, he said that the government wanted reconciliation with all political parties for resolution of host of issues confronted by the masses. However, he said the government had no absolute majority in Parliament which was must for speedy legislation.

While strongly rejecting the allegation of witch-hunting of political leaders, he maintained that certain political figures were facing cases of corruption and graft. Those who had mismanaged the national resources and public office should be held accountable, he added.

He regretted that during the last 40 years institutions were destroyed with rampant political interference, favoritism and influence.

He stressed the need for capacity building of public prosecutors to effectively pursue the criminal cases at the relevant fora.

He said the government was making sincere efforts to put forward the country on path of progress and prosperity. Major structural reforms were being introduced in major sectors including education, health and agriculture, he added.

Regarding Kashmir issue, Shibli Faraz said Prime Minister Imran Khan has internationalized the Kashmir issue for the first time and exposed the Modi mindset before the world.

"We also want durable peace in Afghanistan as it is also in best interest of Pakistan," he said.

Hailing the US-Taliban deal, he said that actual challenge would be intra-Afghan dialogue.