Positive indicators of economy reflect excellent performance of PTI govt

The new government has shown double standards by adding the improvement of positive indicators of the economy from July-March in its account and holding the former government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) responsible for the negative indicators.

During the PTI government, the exports have increased, whereas, the remittances tax revenues reached an all-time high. The country also witnessed record crop production and large industries have also performed well in the nine months of the fiscal year.

Just after Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML) came into power, it started criticism against the previous government for the economic crisis and the new Finance Minister Dr Miftah Ismail directly blamed the PTI for all the challenges on the economic front.

The new government has also blamed the previous government for increasing inflation and declared it the biggest issue of the poor nationals.

Criticism of the present government is justified, but the PTI government has taken some steps in the first three quarters of the current financial year, which are showing positive effects.

Tax revenue

Revenue is the backbone of the economy and the PTI government has taken effective measures to increase tax revenue in the last nine months, which is the first three quarters of the current financial year.

Important and historic work was done to install point-of-sale (POS) machines in big shops across the country which significantly reduced sales tax evasion from major stores, malls and hotels across the country, and the sales tax collected on public shopping went to the national treasury instead of going into the pockets of shopkeepers, hotel owners or shopping mall management.

In this regard, a complete and comprehensive advertising campaign was launched for Point of Sales (POS), urging the people to keep an eye on their sales tax. The people were asked to insist on a sale receipt so that their tax money would reach the national treasury instead of falling into the hands of thieves.

POS machines have been installed at more than 19,000 major brand outlets, shops and hotels across the country to estimate the income of the shopkeepers, shopping malls and hotels.

Prizes were distributed to the people on receipt of fixed receipt of sales tax and prizes of Rs53 million are being distributed among the people through a lottery every month for four consecutive months.

Chairman FBR Dr Ashfaq was given the opportunity to work independently.

Steps have been taken to review tax revenue on a continuous basis and on a daily basis, so it can be seen that despite the huge tax relief, the FBR’s revenue during the current financial year increased by 29.1%.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has released preliminary details of the revenue collected during the current financial year 2021-22 from July 2021 to March 2022.

According to preliminary information, FBR has collected revenue of Rs4,382 billion during the current financial year, which is Rs247 billion more than the target. This is an increase of 29.1% over the same period last year. The revenue collected during the same period of last financial year was Rs3,394 billion. In the month of March of the current financial year, the revenue collected was Rs575 billion which was 20.5 per more than the target, whereas, a revenue of Rs 477 billion was collected in the month of March.

On the other hand, the gross collection has also increased which was Rs3,577 billion from July 2020 to March 2021 and the gross collection from July 2021 to March 2022 of the current financial year is Rs4,611 billion.

Thus, in the current financial year, it has increased by 28.9% as compared to the previous financial year.

Similarly, refunds of Rs31.9 billion were issued in the month of March of the current financial year whereas refunds issued in the month of March of the last financial year were over Rs26 billion.

Thus, the number of refunds issued in March of last financial year increased by 21.3% this year. Similarly, from July 2021 to March 2022, Rs183 billion was refunded. These figures showed that the amount of refunds issued in the current financial year is 25% higher than the previous year.

Global recession

Despite the global recession in the current fiscal year and rising global inflation and low economic growth after the war between Russia and Ukraine, Pakistan’s economic growth rate is expected to remain at 4%. Global organisations feared that the war between Russia and Ukraine could cause economic growth in Europe to slow to just 0.5 per cent, up from 4 per cent in the fiscal year 2021.

Role of agriculture, industry

The main reason for the stability in economic growth is the continuous growth of crop production and large industries. The statistics of the finance ministry that the economic growth rate for the current financial year is expected to be 4 to 4.3 per cent.

Similarly, 28.4 million tonnes of wheat is expected to be produced this season. Despite the dramatic increase in DAP prices in the global market, the prospects for a better wheat crop in Pakistan are bright.

The growth rate in the agricultural sector in Pakistan is expected to be more than 4.5%. The minerals sector in Pakistan is growing at a rate of 4.7%, whereas, the production of agricultural tractors in Pakistan increased by 10%.

According to the July-March report, the growth rate of large industries in the seven months from July to January of the current financial year was 7.6 per cent as compared to 1.8 per cent in the same period of the previous financial year.

The statistics showed that 133,791 cars and jeeps were manufactured in the first seven months. The production of light commercial vehicles, tractors, trucks, and buses was also increased. During the period, 32,585 tractors, and 16,358 light commercial vehicles were manufactured while 414 trucks, 339 buses and more than 1.4 million motorcycles were manufactured.

Export figures

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan’s exports from July to March of the current financial year stood at ارب 23.7 billion, up 24 per cent from the same period last year. From July to March last financial year, Pakistan’s exports were $18.68 billion.

During the July-March period of the current financial year, Pakistan’s imports stood at $58.87 billion, an increase of 49% over the previous financial year. From July to March last fiscal year, Pakistan’s imports were $38.48 billion.

The main reason for imports is the weakening dollar due to the depreciation of the rupee, whereas, the war between Russia and Ukraine has also increased the rates of food items including petroleum products globally which have made the prices of imported goods in Pakistan more expensive.

Overseas remittances from Pakistanis increased by 7%.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, overseas Pakistanis sent a large number of remittances to Pakistan in July-March this financial year, showing confidence in the previous government of PTI. The remittances had increased by 7.1% from July to March, and remittances from overseas Pakistanis exceeded $23 billion during the three quarters.