http://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f137/islamabad-tonight-5th-january-2009-a-86335/
| Country's economy capable of meeting defence needs: Tareen |
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| Tuesday, January 06, 2009 ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tareen said on Monday that the Pakistani economy was fully capable of meeting the defence requirements of the country. Talking to a private TV channel, he said the Defence Ministry had not put any undue burden on finance despite tension on the eastern border and movement of troops. Replying to a question, he said that the government would make all-out efforts to meet the defence requirements. He said the Finance Ministry had chalked out a nine-point economic agenda to achieve short, medium and long-term goals. He said: "Our agenda is to bring micro-economic stability, increasing revenues, reducing fiscal deficit, rationalisation of developmental budget and reduction in poverty." Tareen said that besides disbursement of cash amount among the poor, the government also wanted to give them health insurance.He said that despite tough challenges, the Pakistani economy was showing signs of improvement, adding that, due to the international financial crunch, stock markets of all the countries suffered. The adviser said inflation was reducing and hoped that the government would succeed in bringing it to a single digit by next year. He added that inflation would drop by three per cent in the next two months. Replying to a question, he said that he had no intention to increase the interest rate if core inflation dropped.When the interest rate reduces, it will give confidence to markets to perform well, he said. Tareen said the government had reduced oil prices by 40 per cent just in 45 days to give quick relief to the common man and the next decrease in petroleum products would be made after thorough deliberations. The adviser said circular debt was due to Pepco which stood at Rs 170 billion, adding that, the Finance Ministry had released the first installment of Rs 7 billion to the IPP to improve their cash flow. He said directives had been issued to ministries to reduce non-essential expenditure, like telephone and petroleum, to overcome the fiscal deficit. |
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N A D E E M M A L I K
Director Programme
AAJ TV
ISLAMABAD
00-92-321-5117511
nadeem.malik@hotmail.com
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