HYDERABAD, Nov 23: The Sindh minister for finance, planning and development, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, said on Friday that not only the rate of taxes but the number of taxes had also been reduced in the province.

Speaking at an Iftar party hosted for him by the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Shaikh said no new taxes were imposed on Sindh in the last two budgets.

The minister said that the Sindh government had increased the education budget by 300 per cent and distributed free books among students.

He said special attention was being paid to female education and monthly scholarship had been sanctioned for them.

Dr Shaikh said it was for the first time in 11 years that Sindh had paid its loans to the State Bank. He said Rs2.5 billion was also lying in the provincial kitty.

He said by taking loans on soft terms, the province had cleared loans taken earlier at a mark-up rate of 17.5 per cent and in this way, he added Rs400 million per annum had been saved.

The minister said during the last 55 years no government had tried to exploit coal resources. Cement factories and sugar mills had now agreed to use coal in place of petrol and other costly fuel, he said.

He said China, South Africa and Canada had shown interest to invest in Pakistan.