Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has said that Saudi Arabia will provide Pakistan a financial assistance of $3 billion in the next few days.
Addressing a gathering in Karachi, Tarin said that Saudi Arabia had promised this financial assistance and it would honour its promise within a few days. He said the nation would hear the good news about the IMF loan soon. He quoted economic experts as saying that the Pakistani economy was lagging behind due to a lack of savings and trade imbalance.
Tarin said the coronavirus pandemic affected the food supplies and the prices of food items went up as a result. He said the entire world praised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tarin said that Pakistan was suffering financially when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) assumed power in 2018. He said that Pakistan needed progress, which should be effective for 20 years and not for just five years.
He said the agriculture sector was ignored in the past, but the incumbent government paid attention to this sector and now Pakistan was having bumper crops. He said the PTI government would give Rs1400 billion to four million families in interest-free loans.
The adviser to the prime minister said the government stood by the ordinary citizens of Pakistan and it would give them more facilities as soon as it finds some space to do so. He said the government was working to help four million families stand on their own feet.
Tarin said the coronavirus pandemic also affected the Pakistani economy. He said that IMF loan programme had always been tough. He said that prices of petroleum products had increased by 100 percent in the country.
The prime minister’s aide said the government was focusing on increasing revenue and industrial exports. He said the government was bringing a relief package for 130 million Pakistanis, giving them 30 percent discount on food items like pulses, flour and cooking oil. He said that inflation was a global phenomenon.
Tarin said that 60 percent of the Pakistani population was below 30 and the government would have to create 1.5 million to 2 million jobs every year. He said that Pakistan needed a durable progress.