Pakistan exports witness 13.60% increase in February: Hammad Azhar

March 02, 2020: Minister for Economic Affairs Muhammad Hammad Azhar Monday informed the Senate that Pakistan exports in the month of February had witnessed 13.6 per cent increase as compared to corresponding month of last year.

Winding up discussion on commenced motion regarding gas and power scarcity in the domestic and industrial sector, he said over all export of the country had increased about 3.4 percent while Indian export witnessed down trend by 1.9 percent.

He said inflation in the month of February had decreased to 12.4 percent from 14.6 percent. The minister said price of food items had decreased during the month of February.

He expressed the hope that price would further decrease in the coming days. “We are hoping, the prices will further decrease in the coming month due to decrease of prices of petroleum products."

The minister said the petroleum products’ prices were cut by Rs5 per litre and soon the prices of other products related to the industry would also be decreased. Prices of commodities like onion, potatoes, tomatoes and flour had already witnessed a sharp decline, he said.

The minister said the incumbent government faced severe economic issues when it came into the power and had to take hard decisions despite reluctance.

“If we have had not taken those tough decisions, the situation could have been worsen now,” he said and added they brought the economy out of the intensive care unit and soon it would witness growth.

He said it was unfortunate that the previous government had established expensive energy plants.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions were praising the government’s economic policies, he said.

The minister said those who criticized the agreement with IMF had also approached it in their tenure of government.

APP