February 20, 2020 (MLN): Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Raza Baqir, on Thursday shared his views on Pakistan’s economy as well as future outlook, at the CEO Summit.
During his speech, Raza Baqir told the attendees that inflation in Pakistan will move down in the coming months, which in turn will have a trickle-down impact on the industrial sector. Furthermore, he said that the fall in inflation might lead to a cut in interest rates.
He said that the economic indicators, over a year ago, were on a downhill course, but the situation has gotten better ever since with the difference being quite apparent. Elaborating further on this, he said that the exchange rate has become stable and the foreign exchange reserves are at a comfortable level.
He also shed some light on the performance of stock markets, which according to him, have been witnessing stability.
However, he accepted that tackling problems pertaining to the current account deficit has been a great challenge. He told the spectators that the overall exports of the country, as compared to the GDP, were less than 10 percent.
Slamming the slow growth of Pakistan, the Governor stated that other third-world countries have a much better pace than ours.
Nonetheless, he said that several incentives were in the pipeline to boost exports in Pakistan. One of these incentives may include the launch of Export schemes with funding of Rs. 200 billion.
For small and medium business, allocation of Rs 500 billion has been approved, that too o reduced interest rates. However, to avail this facility, the small business houses will have to get themselves registered first.
To clear the suspicions and skepticism of some people, he stated that Policy Rate is decided by the Monetary Policy Committee, with no interference from the government.
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