FM Aurangzeb says govt fixing issues, national economy moving in right directions

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that government was moving in right direction on economic fronts, adding that private sector is the backbone of the country, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing Literary Festival in Islamabad, Aurangzeb said that middle man was creating hurdles in bringing inflation down and government will take strict action against such elements.

He said the government was trying to give relief to laymen. He said no one can make any secret agreement with IMF as each and every agreement is placed on IMF website. Aurangzeb said country run on taxes and not on donations. He said the past government must have privatized the state enterprises which were moving in big annual losses. He said this government was working on privatization of state entity facing big losses.

He said FBR was aimed at the welfare of the tax payers. He said tax filing system is tricky in Pakistan and government was trying to regulate it. He said government will facilitate foreign investors.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Aurangzeb Friday described digitization of economy as a key requisite for driving economic growth and mobilizing ample resources for growing development needs to end country’s reliance on persistent financing. He made this statement during a meeting with a delegation of Veon Group at Finance Division, according to press release issued by finance ministry. The delegation was led by Augie K. Fabela, founder and chairman of the Board Veon Group, Kaan Terzioglu, Group CEO VEON, Ms. Marine Babayan, Group Director of Corporate Affairs VEON and Mr, Aamir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz, were also present.

During the meeting, the Minister reiterated the government’s resolve for tax reforms with a focus on people-processed technology and end-to-end digitalisation to enhance transparency, plug leakages and improve services. He described the use of data analytics as vital to have a fact-based discussion rather than harassment around FBR’s efforts for revenue generation and resource mobilisation.

He noted that for the current fiscal year, the federal tax revenues have increased by 29 per cent and 600,000 new filers have also been added to FBR’s system thus far, however added there was a long way to go to scale up the tax-to-GDP ratio, currently languishing at 8 to 9 per cent, to a decent 13.5 per cent by the time the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme is completed. Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb also reiterated the government’s resolve to move ahead with its privatisation programme, saying the government was clear that anything that could be done in the private sector, had to be handled by the private sector to allow it to drive the economy and be the engine of growth.

He pointed out that there was a real appetite amongst international investors and bilateral partners to invest in Pakistan. However, this appetite for foreign investment in Pakistan could only materialise through the private sector which had the potential, energy and drive to come up with bankable, investable projects for joint business ventures and collaborations with the foreign investors.

Reporter: Waqas Azeem