January 16, 2002	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1422

KARACHI, Jan 15: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday said the government had set in place a conducive operating environment for the private sector and now it was for the traders and industrialists to play their roles in the development of national economy.

He claimed the government has successfully taken up a well thought out economic reforms agenda in last two years, implemented for the first time an IMF programme and is now treading on a path of broad-based reformation in various areas that include agriculture, civil service, financial sector, capital market and industry.

Addressing a meeting of local traders, organized by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday at a local hotel, the minister said that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves were nearing five billion dollars mark and would further increase in the future.

He said the improvement of foreign exchange reserves matter much more in Pakistan when seen in context of regional crisis as Pakistan was always considered to be vulnerable because of meagre reserve position.

Another achievement, he mentioned, was the concession obtained from the Paris Club in rescheduling of $12.5 billion, which is set to release $2.7 billion resources in next three years.

“We asked for 16 years grace period and 40 years repayment and got 15 years grace period and 38 years repayment schedule,” he said. This has reduced the burden of debt-servicing by 30 per cent. Total impact of this concession is $2.7 billion for next three years.

In the post-September 11 period, he said, Pakistan had managed to obtain $1.4 billion grants for next two years. Of this $700 million had already been received this year.

This grant, he said, had been given to offset the losses suffered on account of cancellation of export orders and revenue losses.

He said the reformation taken up in last two years plus the concession obtained from the Paris Club and receipt of grants had enabled Pakistan to a great extent to withstand the negative impact of September 11.

All these reformation, he said, had led to deregulation of wheat and petroleum trade, which had facilitated availability of wheat in Balochistan and NWFP and ensured a fair return to farmers. The domestic oil prices have been linked with international prices and consumers have been given the benefit when prices came down.

Earlier, KCCI President A.Q. Khalil in his address of welcome, praised the government’s decision to join international coalition after September 11.

He said the country was expected to suffer two to three billion dollars losses because of September 11 effects owing to cancellation of export orders and revue shortfalls.