Dar says country will soon secure new place in global capital markets

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Stock Exchange has been established with the merger of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges here on Thursday. An agreement to this effect was signed in Islamabad on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar expressed the confidence that Pakistan will secure new place in international capital markets with the emergence of one national stock exchange. He said Pakistan Stock Exchange will be made vibrant and competitive in the global financial markets. He said Pakistan has a great potential to turn into a strong stable and economically sovereign country. Highlighting the steps taken for revival of economy, Ishaq Dar said the world financial institutions are also recognizing stability in Pakistan's economy. Ishaq Dar said efforts will now be made to enhance growth rate to six to seven percent as envisioned in the medium term framework. He said special emphasis is also being given to the development sector and allocations for this purpose have been doubled in the last two years. He said the foreign exchange reserves are at historic height and hovering between 18.50 to 18.75 billion dollars. He said efforts are afoot to enhance the reserves to over twenty billion dollars very soon. On energy crisis, Ishaq Dar was confident that ten thousand megawatt of electricity will be added to the grid by December 2017.