950817

Finance Ministry

disputes Nawaz's

statement

ISLAMABAD: A spokesman of the Ministry of Finance has clarified a news item appearing in a section of the press in which leader of the Opposition, Mian Nawaz Sharif has alleged that economic situation of the country was disturbing.

He said that the leader of the Opposition, Mian Nawaz Sharif while talking to the journalists on his return from London said that Pakistan, economically, has been down-graded as compared to India and that foreign investors considered it a matter of great risk to invest in Pakistan.

The spokesman while clarifying said that these statements of Mian Nawaz Sharif are too generalized. Had he chosen to quote facts and figures in support of his claim regarding the economic situation of the fear of investors, his comment could have been credible. As the leader of the Opposition, he should desist from making baseless statements.

As far as the factual position is concerned, he said the economy has greatly stabilized since assumption of government by PPP and has made a significant progress in strengthening macro-economic stability. GDP growth has improved from 3.8 percent in 1993-94 to 4.7 percent in 1994-95. Exports have recorded growth rate of 18.14 percent during 1994-95. The position of reserves is immensely better from dollars 461 million on June 30, 1993 to dollars 2736.7 million as on end of June, 1995, budget deficit has been brought down from 7.9 percent in June, 1993 to 5.6 percent of GDP in June 1995 and agriculture growth has nearly doubled compared to last year.

The interest of the foreign investors in Pakistan has been more than ever and its materialization will take time. Yet there has been an increase in foreign investments of 141.0 percent this year over the last year. This are also shaping up in respect of a number of MoUs signed early this year. So far as the matter of relegation of Pakistan's position vis-a-vis India is concerned, it is an absurd charge as the two economies have never been in competition. India's economy is far larger than Pakistan's and has an entirely different orientation, be it trade, product range or commodity position, he added.-APP