PM heaps praise on team for 'economic turnaround'.

Byline: Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that his economic team has turned around the national economy within a period of one year, especially referring to a sharp decline in the current account deficit and an increase in investments.

The premier in a series of tweets shared some data-graphs showing performance of foreign direct investment, exports and remittances besides a sharp decline in the current account deficit.

Mr Khan said that a 111.5pc increase was recorded in the foreign direct investment and a 194pc increase in foreign private investment during the past one year. The massive increase in investments was a reflection of the trust of foreign investors in the government's economic policies, he added.

The prime minister said that the current account deficit was on a 41-month low in September 2019, indicating that the economy was on the mend. Between July-September, the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the current account deficit declined by a huge 64pc to $1.5bn from $4.3bn over the last year. It was mainly led by a 21pc decline in imports.

Pakistan had witnessed the biggest current account deficit at $18.25 billion before the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had taken over the government. He went on to say that remittances from overseas Pakistanis showed a 17.6 per cent increase in remittances during last month.

Imran asked ministries to bring down prices of wheat, sugar, cooking oil, fruit and vegetables, says Firdous

The fiscal deficit - the difference between revenues and expenditures of the federal government - declined by 36 per cent in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year as revenue increased and expenditure cuts took root.

Ramsha Jahangir

PM Khan's economic team led by Adviser on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh - currently visiting Washington to attend the annual meetings of International Monetary Fund/World Bank-2019 - held a series of meetings with heads of various global financial institutions and business leaders to apprise them of the overall state of economy in Pakistan.

The focus of these meetings, according to an official statement, is to focus on government's measures to curtail the twin deficits and revive various sectors of the economy through institutional reforms and collaboration with regional and international investment partners.

State Bank Governor Dr Reza Baqir and Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran held an extensive meeting with Asian DeveAlopment Bank (ADB) president...