Abdul Wajid Khan

Former finance minister Senator Shaukat Tarin has asked the government to immediately give a clear economic roadmap to end speculations in the market and the nervousness of the investors.

Talking to WealthPK on the sidelines of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance’s meeting, he said that economic uncertainty was increasing pressure on the Pakistani rupee against the dollar and asked the government to take steps for controlling the rupee’s depreciation.

He said prevailing uncertainty was deteriorating the economic indicators of the country and had shaken the confidence of the investors in the economy too.

Investment in the country was falling because investors avoided long-term decisions under the current circumstances, he said and added, a clear roadmap was needed to handle the prevailing economic crisis in the country.

“Market is expecting immediate and a clear future roadmap of the government about the economy to revive the confidence of the people so that they could know about the real situation about the inflows and outflows of the dollars in coming months to end uncertainty,” he added.

Shaukat Tarin urged the government to explain its position about the arrangements and timeline of dollar inflows to fulfil external financing needs because the government had announced that it would get sufficient inflows from friendly countries after it secured loan from the International Monetary Fund.

He said the finance ministry should give a policy statement and present credible figures about the availability of dollars for the coming months. Shaukat said that the country needed to make comprehensive efforts to revive the economy and the announcement of the early general election was a better option because the next government would get a five-year term that would boost businessmen’s confidence in the economy.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha has said that the government was taking steps to manage the current difficult economic situation and it would successfully bring the country out of it soon. Negotiations were underway with some friendly countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar for bringing investment in the key sectors to strengthen the dwindling economy, she said.

Aisha said those investments would improve the country’s foreign exchange reserves and help in stabilizing the rupee against the US dollar.

The recent unprecedented floods and devastation caused in all the provinces had given a major blow to the financial resources and funds were being diverted to provide relief to the victims, she said. The minister said that the rehabilitation of people and reconstruction of infrastructure in flood-hit areas would be an uphill task.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk