ISLAMABAD:
Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had launched several development
projects to improve economy and facilitate the people.
He
said that Nandipur, Dasu, Bhasha, Neelum-Jhelum and other projects
would be completed in near future to meet the growing demand of energy
in the country.
Talking to the official television, he
said that PML-N government was taking all important steps to streamline
the system. Ishaq Dar said the government had paid circular debt to
bring improvement in the energy sector.
Ishaq Dar said that budget deficit had been reduced due to the dynamic policies of the present government.
He said that a large number of people would be provided assistance through Income Support Programme.
The finance minister said that the PML-N was following its manifesto given during the election campaign.
Replying
to a question, he said that present government wanted to produce
40,000MW electricity through different resources for achieving speedy
progress in all the sectors.
Ishaq Dar said that a huge amount was allocated for fee reimbursement programme of the students.
To another question, he said the government was not getting any dictation from International Monitory Funds (INF).
He said that an additional amount would be given to the provincial governments to bring prosperity in the country.
Meanwhile,
the World Bank (WB) Country Director for Pakistan, Rachid Benmessaoud,
expressed the hope that the board of the bank would approve assistance
for Dasu Project.
“We are working day and night for board
meeting to be held on June 10 and hope that the assistance for Dasu
Project will be approved,” he said during his meeting with Finance
Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here.
During the
meeting WB Country Director assured the finance minister that things
were moving positively for Pakistan at the World Bank.
He said that they were encouraged by the positive trends of the economic indicators.
The
meeting was also attended by Shahid Mahmood, Special Assistant to the
Finance Minister and senior officials of the Finance Ministry.
Ishaq
Dar informed the Country Director that Pakistan’s economy was moving in
the right direction and that we would continue to engage with
multilateral fora including World Bank for assistance in energy and
infrastructure development programmes initiated by the government.
He
added, in line with the vision of the prime minister to make Pakistan
developed and prosperous country, the government has embarked upon a
plan to meet the energy requirements and make Pakistan an economically
viable country.
He emphasized that World Bank’s assistance
in energy and development projects particularly on Dasu Dam and CASA
-1000 will help Pakistan progress.
