LAHORE: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would not only prove beneficial for Pakistan but also for the entire region.
Addressing a ceremony of South Asian Federation of Accountants in Lahore, he said that the TAPI gas pipeline project, CPEC, CASA-1000 and AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) are very important initiatives which would help improve economic growth rate.
He said the PML-N government had always put the country’s economy on track to speedy growth and that today 22 credible institutions of the world had declared Pakistan economy stable. He said that the government managed to bring down the budget deficit to 4.3 per cent from 8.8 per cent, besides ensuring tax growth rate of 33 per cent in two years.
The minister said the agri credit had also been doubled and stood at over Rs 600 billion while the development expenditure had also increased to Rs 700 billion. Pakistan could easily attain six to seven per cent growth rate, he said. He said that the government was also taking effective steps to end the energy crisis and 10,000 MW would be added to the national grid by March 2018.
