Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin hinted that inflation might not be easing any time soon as prices are increasing all over the world due to Covid-19 pandemic, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The minister was addressing a presser in Islamabad on Wednesday. Taking a U-turn on the government’s earlier claim that inflation would be deceased in the next couple of months, Tarin opined that inflation would keep on hitting the country for the next 2-3 months as prices were surging internationally owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

He, however, said that to offset the effects of inflation, the government would provide subsidy to 200 million households through Ehsas Programme and it would also multiply the income of the middle class. He said the government would provide Rs10 billion loans through Kamyab Programme. 

On the Transparency International report, the finance minister said that the report vividly mentioned about the corruption among the ruling elite. He confessed that it’s true that Imran’s assets were risen by Rs300 million but it did not say that he must have committed corruption. He must have sold some of his asset and accumulated wealth, he said adding that he must be asked which asset he had sold. He said Imran did not like corruption at any level 

He wondered that the economic intelligent unit kept Pakistan’s ranking at the same level for two years but lowered it this year. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFiT8W6L7g

The finance minister said people should not worry if our currency was losing its value saying that economy was moving in the same direction as the government wanted it to be. 

He said dollar rate had reached Rs180 but now it was being traded for Rs175. If inflation is controlled, exchange rate will be improved, he added. He said the government was trying to control import bill that would reduce the current account deficit. 

“We have to go to the International Monetary Fund for bringing about an improvement in the economy,” the minister said adding that God willing the government would approve the mini-budget from Senate till Feb 2. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the IMF’s Executive Board which was going to take up Pakistan's sixth review of the $6-billion Extended Fund Facility on January 28, has postponed its meeting. Now the review would be held next week on Wednesday (February 2), according to the IMF website.

He said around $20 million were being transferred daily from Pakistan to Afghanistan. He said government took action to stop this flight of the greenback from the country. He said government was contemplating to start barter trade with Afghanistan. 

Tarin said that the country had to face several financial challenges. He said due to Covid-19, the country faced so many problems. When we were about to become economically stable, the corona epidemic hit us, he said adding but we weren’t hit so hard due to the intelligent strategy of Prime Minister Imran Khan as we did not shut down our economy and instead introduced smart lockdown.

Finance Minister said economy was growing and it was expected to touch 5% by the end of current fiscal year. He pointed out that there has been record revenue collection whilst exports and remittances are also increasing.

He was confident that the goods exports will touch $31 billion and those of IT $3.5 billion. He said the remittances remained $15.8 billion during the first six months of current fiscal year.

Tarin informed that soon he was visiting China and he would request the Chinese government to set up industries in Pakistan. 

Reporter Waqas Azeem