Pak paid off $20b in foreign loans in 2.5 years
Pakistan's economy is stabilising and moving towards a positive direction despite the COVID-19 pandemic, says Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In a brief speech at a Roshan Digital Account ceremony in Islamabad, the premier highlighted the ruling PTI government's success stories in the economic sector. He said Pakistan has paid off foreign loans worth Rs20 billion ever since the PTI government came to power.
The Roshan Digital Accounts crossed the $500 million mark in remittances. "When the PTI government came to power, Pakistan had a record deficit which had the greatest impact on the rupee," the premier said, adding that overseas Pakistanis helped stabilise the rupee.
He spoke about an increase in exports too and said it came at a time when economies around the world were badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. PM Khan made a comparison of Pakistan's exports with competitor nations like India and Bangladesh. He said the country's textile sector is witnessing a boom and new textile mills are being opened.
The premier stressed the importance of tapping the market of overseas Pakistanis as they were "an asset for the country". He told the State Bank of Pakistan to open a special cell to facilitate overseas Pakistanis in opening a Roshan Digital Account.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Sadaqat Ali Abbasi on Monday said that Punjab government was preparing to set up 'agriculture private mandis' to end monopoly of traditional mandis.
Talking to a private news channel, he said that the government was taking all possible measures to tackle rampant inflation.
He said a number of private mandi applications had already been filed with the department and were being processed, adding that the difference in the prices of commodities in wholesale and retail indicated towards the failure of the market committees.