Dar for bringing down debt by 2 percent every year

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar has said that Medium Term Framework announced in the budget envisages a reduction of debt by 2 percent every year in overall public debt which is presently 63 percent of the GDP and way above the 60 percent permissible under the fiscal debt and responsibility law.

Talking to Australian High Commissioner, Peter Heyward who called on him here Wednesday, Dar said that he was optimistic to achieve the ambitious revenue target of Rs. 2475 billion set in the budget which is 25 percent over the previous budget.

Given our sincerity of purpose, hard work and our determination to remain on the right track; "I am optimistic that macro-economic challenges presently facing the country are manageable" he added.

The minister further said that smooth passage of the budget, successful conclusion of an IMF programme and payment of Rs. 322 billion to private power producers have been some of the major initiatives of the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to address the challenges facing the economy of the country.

Dilating on the IMF programme, Senator Ishaq Dar said that the terms of the agreement are within the broad parameters of PML-N manifesto. "Even if we had not entered into any IMF programme, we would have taken similar measures", he added.

"The IMF programme success has been well taken by the financial world" said the Finance Minister.

He said that the loan from IMF would not increase Pakistan's external debt as the new loan would be utilized to return the previous loan.

The High Commissioner said that Australia is keen to expand its economic relations with Pakistan and showed interest in the areas of mining, energy and agriculture.

Mr. Peter Heyward said that Australia was keenly watching the development and would support Pakistan.