"Pakistan's budget deficit drops to 4.3% of GDP"

RAWALPINDI (Staff Report) - Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said the government is fully committed to do away with major challenges including economic revival and it has managed to bring down the budget deficit to 4.3 percent of the GDP from 8.8 percent.

Addressing the business community in Rawalpindi, he said Pakistan (PML-N) government had always put the country's economy on the track of speedy growth.

The Minister said that 22 international financial institutions have declared Pakistan's economy as stable.

The Finance Minister said present government's prudent and effective policies had ensured tax growth rate up to 33 percent in two years while it was mere 3 percent in the past.

This government has the credit of setting new record by taking foreign exchange reserves to more than 20 billion US dollars.

He said government is trying to make tax collection system more simple and easy, and assured the taxpayers that no tax official would harass them.

The Finance Minister said the government believes that tax rates need to be brought down to a level where the trading community feels comfortable and encouraged to play its part in national development.