Remittances may reach $3.5bn

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz has predicted remittances, sent mainly by overseas Pakistanis, will reach around US$3.5 billion this fiscal year.

Addressing the members of Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Monday, the finance minister expected the agriculture sector to meet growth target of 4.3 per cent because of "improved water availability and fertiliser offtake".

He said cotton, wheat, rice and sugarcane crops had shown good results, adding "this will lead to an estimated Rs65 billion increase in income in the rural areas". That rise, he said, would primarily be due to increase in cotton support price.

He said the manufacturing sector had also been buoyant, growing at the rate of 15 per cent per annum. "As a result of this, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to grow between 5.5 and 6 per cent per annum", he expressed optimism.

He said inflation rate had been contained at "about 4 per cent" and there had also been a manifold increase in credit availability to the private sector.

He said the market capitalisation of stock exchanges had improved while price to earning ratio of listed companies stood at 12.

Defending low level of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, the minister said at present FDI stood at around $600 million and that had to be seen in the context of the general trend of FDI in the region "which has been low".

The minister sought help of OICCI in attracting foreign investment into the country and agreed "more need to be done to improve the perception of Pakistan among overseas investors".

He assured the chamber the government would take further steps to induce foreign direct investment.

Regarding Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Shaukat suggested the chamber "should jointly address the issue and enter into a dialogue with the government".

jang.co.pk