Rupee to see improvement ‘in next two weeks’, Miftah Ismail says
Miftah announces tax relief for shop-owners consuming less than 150 units. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday announced tax relief for shop-owners who consume less than 150 units per month.
Addressing a press conference, Miftah Ismail said that government is seeking annual tax of Rs36,000 from small shop-owners and stressed that everyone will have to pay taxes.
Finance minister also said that the Pakistani rupee, which is rapidly depreciating against the US dollar in recent weeks, should see some improvement in the two to three weeks.
He stated that this month and the previous month, the government had to make payments worth billions which had caused the local currency to come under pressure.
The minister said that he would try to ensure that the dollars coming into the country on a daily basis would be more than those leaving.
Miftah highlighted that the country witnessed import reduction of $2.7 billion between June and July.
He said that for now the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had given approval to lift the ban on imports “We are removing the ban on most items, except for vehicles, mobile phones and home appliances.”
“We plan to give Pakistan a healthy economy. We are determined to minimise the current account deficit and turn it into surplus within a year or so.”
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The minster said that the government had succeeded in curbing imports and would make efforts to increase exports over the next two to three months.
Miftah Ismail held former PTI government responsible for the country’s economic problems and said that the coalition government was not capable of bringing the country to the brink in a mere three months.
“The ones who brought the country to this point was the PTI and Imran Khan.”
