Finance Minister says Govt not pressured to borrow from banks

Federal Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb Wednesday launched the newly launched Pakistan Economy Dashboard (PED) towards improving its transparency as well as developing a data accessibility arena and then making it a data-driven analysis platform.

Speaking on the launch event of the PED, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb said: “Data is the new oil, but the real value lies in how we use it.”.

In the regard of the economic sphere, the minister mentioned that the government reached a stable position. He underlined the necessity of keeping this trend in sight for long-term stabilization of macroeconomic indicators.

Therefore, Aurangzeb also said that the government is not compelled to borrow money from the banks. “If borrowing becomes necessary, we will do it on our own terms,” he said. That he said would force the banks into the line of action towards lending to the private sector which he thinks is the main engine for the growth of the country’s economy.

He further noted that for the business community, KIBOR remains the key benchmark for borrowing rather than the policy rate. The minister urged that this period of macroeconomic stability be a time to implement structural reforms that have always been central to the country’s development.

The document outlined many of the major areas that this government intends to focus on in terms of reform, among them being an increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio, restructuring of the energy sector, reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as well as moving forward with privatization. He expressed confidence that these reforms will lead to sustainable growth and economic stability in Pakistan.