Mr Shoaib was talking to newsmen at the Lahore Railway Station while on his way to Rawalpindi from Karachi.

He said that for the first time national income had marked a rise over the population ratio. The rise in the national income was five-and-a-half per cent whereas the population rise was only two-and-a-half per cent.

He said the Government was striving to stabilise prices and there had been no remarkable rise in the prices during the last four-and-a-half years.

Referring to the foreign aid position, he expressed his satisfaction over the prevailing situation and remarked that funds would be available for all the projects that the Government had decided to execute.—Agencies

$30m AID loan for buying US goods

WASHINGTON: The Agency for International Development (AID) today (Feb 17) announced a 30-million-dollar loan to the Government of Pakistan to finance commodity imports from the US, according to a release of the United States Information Service issued here today.

The loan will be available for the purchase of US goods in a wide range of categories essential to Pakistan’s economic development under the second Five-Year-Plan.

The loan will be repayable by the Government of Pakistan over a period of 40 years, including a 10-year grace period, with a credit fee of three-fourth of one per cent per year.—Agencies