ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail has said that we have turned the tide as exports have witnessed an upsurge over the last few months.
While responding to the points of the opposition members in National Assembly on Friday, the minister said that in March, the exports from the Country grew by 24 percent while in April these increased by 18 percent.
The minister however admitted that the foreign exchange reserves have gone down and that the current account deficit is a serious issue.
Miftah Ismail thanked Allah Almighty for providing opportunity to the government to present its sixth budget. He said that despite many challenges the present government took forward the Country on the path of economic development. He also thanked the members of the Parliament for their positive contributions in the budget.
The finance minister announced honoraria equal to five months basic pay for the employees of National Assembly and Senate as well as the staff of different departments who were deployed for the budget session. He assured that the honoraria will be paid to the staff before the completion of the tenure of the present government.
Meanwhile, the Lower House passed the Finance Bill 2018 giving legal cover to the budgetary proposals for the next financial year.
A number of proposals given by members during debate on the budget and recommendations of the Senate have been incorporated either fully or partially but the basic structure of the budget 2018-19 remains as announced on April 27.
