KARACHI: The government is confident that it will surpass the growth target set for the current fiscal year as the country is moving towards the right path on internal and external fronts, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Saturday.

Hailing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s prudent and timely policies during a meeting with the business community organised by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), he said tough decisions were taken to restore the economy affected by coronavirus pandemic.

The government took austerity measures and reduced its expenditures, besides freezing expenditures of military and pay of high officials, he added.

Besides freezing all expenditures, no new tax was imposed in the budget nor were any supplementary grants approved, he added.

The expenditures of Prime Minister House was decreased by 35 per cent while expenditures of President House were decreased by 30pc, the adviser said.

The government has repaid Rs5 trillion debt during the last two years, he informed the meeting.

“When Covid-19 hit the whole world, there were two immediate challenges faced by the country. The first challenge was to save common people from its economic effects and other to protect businesses,” Shaikh said.

The government annou­nced Rs1,240bn relief package, with different components. The biggest one was to transfer cash to common and vulnerable people, it was historic, he said adding that Rs250bn was disbursed among 16 million people without any discrimination and irrespective of geographic or political affiliation.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2020