Exports increased by 9.6 percent in October: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday said exports of goods and services increased by 9.6 per cent in October 2019.

In a post on Twitter, Shaikh said, “To provide easy working capital and funds for expansion, government and SBP will give additional Rs300b in subsidised financing to exporters and Rs30 billion will be given in cash instead of promissory notes issued against tax refunds.”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Khan Tareen praised the party’s economic team in his response to Shaikh and said, “Masahallah, economy is going from strength to strength. The years of misrule and wrong policies being corrected by the PTI economic team Masahallah.”

The PTI-led regime is celebrating the achievement of converting current account deficit (CAD) into surplus to the tune of $99 million for October 2019, but many economists do not consider it as very positive development for the economy.

Keeping in view Pakistan’s record on economic front, there is strong relationship between higher growth and higher current account deficit, so surplus CAD might result into further slowing down of the economic activities.

The country recorded current account surplus of $99 million in October 2019. The CAD stood at $284 million in September 2019. The current account deficit in first four months of FY-19-20 amounted to $1.474 billion while it stood at $5.567 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

During last fiscal year, current account deficit stood at $13.830 billion, while in FY-18 current account deficit stood around $19.897 billion.

Originally published in The News