ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday said that international organizations were affirming Pakistan’ economic progress.
Addressing a press conference along with Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar and FBR Chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi in Islamabad, Hafeez Shaikh said that Moody upgraded Pakistan’s sovereign outlook to stable from negative which affirmed the government’s success in economic stabilization.
He said that Bloomberg had also endorsed Pakistan’s strong economic indicators and termed the country’s stock ‘world-beating’.
The adviser said that IMF has also lauded the pace of Pakistan’s economic progress and added that the fund has decided to release the second tranche of 50 crore dollars to Pakistan.
He said that for the first time in Pakistan’s history, portfolio investment reached to one billion dollars. Hafeez Shaikh said that exports increased by 10 percent and direct foreign investment rise by 236 per cent during the last five months.
He said that current account rose into surplus and added that the economy was heading in the right direction.
Earlier on December 2, another good news for Pakistan on the economic front, as Moody’s rating agency had changed Pakistan’s outlook to stable from negative.
The Moody’s had kept Pakistan’s rating outlook unchanged to B-3. It further had said the Pakistani economy was improving and the biggest challenge being faced by the Pakistani economy, the current account deficit, was also shrinking.
