Islamabad: Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said it will take some time to set the economy on the right path in the face of gigantic financial problems, Pakistan based The News International newspaper reported.
The News International is an English-language newspaper in Pakistan.
Dar while talking to a delegation of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Saturday, said: "There's no quick fix, and it will take time as we had faced such challenges in 1998 and 2013; but all of those challenges were efficiently tackled in due course of time."
According to a statement issued by the KCCI, the minister said that in 2017, everyone was applauding Pakistan's performance, and the economy was performing at its peak with the highest foreign reserves and lowest inflation.
"The stock markets were the best-performing markets of the region," he claimed, adding that Pakistan was going in the right direction but the political instability destroyed everything, plunging Pakistan's economy from 24th position to 47th position in 2022, which was painful for all Pakistanis.
Dar said: "The most difficult reforms have been done and the bleeding is over. Pakistan will survive and we will collectively face all the challenges to put the country back on track, leading to progress and prosperity." He added that it was the government's top priority that no delay occurs in external payments and the same was promptly being done. "I reassure you that we will come out of economic crises and come up with new ideas and initiatives which the country actually deserves through agricultural revolution and a special focus on IT."
He said the government would fully cooperate with the business community by accepting all their reasonable demands, but the wish list should be kept limited. The finance minister claimed that the most difficult reforms have already been undertaken, bleeding is over now. —ANI
