HARD work and dedication of the economic team of the government has started paying dividends as confirmed by several achievements on the economic front.
Pakistan’s annual inflation rate eased for a sixth straight month in April, dropping to 0.28pc from 0.7pc in March, marking the lowest level in the last six decades.
And Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has expressed the confidence that tax-to-GDP ratio will reach 10.6% by June this year and foreign exchange reserves would climb to $14 billion by then.
The data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) shows goods exports rose 6.25 per cent year-on-year to $26.86 billion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024-25.
It is appreciable that inflation, exchange rate and current account deficit remained almost stable throughout the year and inflationary situation is likely to ease further in coming weeks because of downward revision of electricity tariffs.
The economic scenario is improving because of ongoing structural reforms across taxation, energy, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), privatization, public finance management and debt strategy.
The improvement in tax collection is an indication that the government will succeed in achieving the tax-to-GDP target of 13% as committed with the IMF by the close of the ongoing programme in three years.
Inflation in April witnessed a record decline mainly because of a significant drop in prices of perishable items whereas prices of items like sugar, meat, chicken, eggs maintained an upward trend.
It is also unfortunate that on the one hand the Government is not passing on the benefit of reduction in oil prices in the international market to the end consumer and on the other hand the private sector is also not providing due relief to the general public of falling prices of edible oil in the global market.
This aspect needs proper attention by authorities concerned.
