Economic Reforms Are Meaningless Without Population Control: Finance Minister

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb warned during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance today that without controlling the country’s growing population, economic reforms are meaningless. He called population growth one of the biggest challenges undermining Pakistan’s long-term economic stability. The minister also highlighted recent economic improvements, particularly the big shift from deficits to surpluses in the primary and current accounts and an increase in foreign reserves to cover two and a half months of imports. Aurangzeb said inflation has fallen sharply from 38 percent to 5 percent, with the policy rate dropping from 22 percent to 15 percent, boosting private sector credit growth. He stressed the need for energy and economic reforms besides achieving pending IMF targets for privatization and rightsizing. The government is working on a 10-year climate change program with the World Bank, the finance minister added.