Govt to receive $2.5b in coming months: Shaikh
Finance minister briefs lawmakers about the state of the economy.
ISLAMABAD:
The government expects to receive $2.5 billion in foreign exchange in the coming months from Etisalat’s pending dues, Coalition Support Fund form the US and Auction of 3G spectrum licence, said Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in a briefing to Parliamentarians.
The finance minister highlighted the economic achievements and hurdles faced by the current government.
“We are facing issues in the power and gas sectors, state-owned enterprises including PIA, Pakistan Railways, and Pakistan Steel Mills but the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring of the Public Sector Enterprises has been working on revamping these enterprises and have made certain good advances “, he added. Hafeez Shaikh said that these issues are overshadowing the tremendous performance of the government.
While pondering on Pakistan Railways, he said that the government has managed to create a consortium of banks to provide Rs6 billion to Pakistan Railways.
He further said that the government is paying salaries and pension of Railways’ workers. “The government is also going to pay the electricity bill of Pakistan Railway “, he added.
Highlighting the tax revenue position, the minister said that 17% increase in tax revenue has been achieved during the last six months while remittances showed a stellar performance by breaking all previous records.
In addition to this, foreign exchange reserves touched its highest figure ever in June, he said. The meeting was also informed among other achievements that the government managed to bring inflation down to single-digits.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2012.
The government expects to receive $2.5 billion in foreign exchange in the coming months from Etisalat’s pending dues, Coalition Support Fund form the US and Auction of 3G spectrum licence, said Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in a briefing to Parliamentarians.
The finance minister highlighted the economic achievements and hurdles faced by the current government.
“We are facing issues in the power and gas sectors, state-owned enterprises including PIA, Pakistan Railways, and Pakistan Steel Mills but the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring of the Public Sector Enterprises has been working on revamping these enterprises and have made certain good advances “, he added. Hafeez Shaikh said that these issues are overshadowing the tremendous performance of the government.
While pondering on Pakistan Railways, he said that the government has managed to create a consortium of banks to provide Rs6 billion to Pakistan Railways.
He further said that the government is paying salaries and pension of Railways’ workers. “The government is also going to pay the electricity bill of Pakistan Railway “, he added.
Highlighting the tax revenue position, the minister said that 17% increase in tax revenue has been achieved during the last six months while remittances showed a stellar performance by breaking all previous records.
In addition to this, foreign exchange reserves touched its highest figure ever in June, he said. The meeting was also informed among other achievements that the government managed to bring inflation down to single-digits.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2012.