ٖ Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said rising inflation had hit the country’s growth rate, which fell between 2% and 2.5%.
He was admitted just days after the government claimed the growth rate had risen to 5.37%.
Tallinn said the 5.37% growth rate in fiscal 2021 was impressive, but the economy would grow at a 5% rate this fiscal year.
He also hinted that prices will not fall for the next three months. Earlier, government ministers claimed that inflation would moderate until April 2022.
The finance minister said inflation was caused by rising international prices.
He added that the government had suffered four major crises in four years, namely the current account deficit, the pandemic, commodity price management and Afghanistan’s dependence.
He praised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision not to impose a complete lockdown during the Covid-19 epidemic and rescued the country from a full-blown financial crisis.
He said the government has provided subsidies to the agriculture and textile industries to increase exports.
The auto sector, he said, recorded “exceptional” growth of 35% and big industry posted 3.3% growth.
“Afghanistan’s dependency has caused the dollar shortfall in Pakistan,” he said. “The government has offered Taliban to trade in the Pakistani currency.”
This step will ease the pressure on the local currency.
He said that Rs10 billion loans will be given to the youth under the Kamyab Pakistan program.
Talking about the International Monetary Fund meeting, he said the review meeting was postponed at the request of the government because the National Assembly was yet to pass the supplementary finance bill 2021,” he said.
