Foreign investment policy to be changed: Dar

LAHORE — Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the government will change its foreign investment policy to discourage temporary investments meant to generate quick profits and take back investments.
Addressing a conference organised by the South Asia Federation of Accountants on Friday, he said new foreign investment policy would encourage long-term investment in agro-based and manufacturing industries to create jobs.
Dar said the government would have to take some painful measures to avoid any financial disaster in the future, adding that only the rich would feel the brunt of these measures.
"The coalition government will change monetary and fiscal policies to eradicate poverty," he added. He said the pro-rich policies implemented by the previous government had marginalised the poor and the food inflation had changed the basic poverty parameters.
He said 16 million more people had been pushed below the poverty line after 1999.
"The purchasing power of a dollar has declined drastically since then. Now one dollar is just enough to buy three kg of flour," he said, adding that genuine evaluation revealed that anybody earning less than $3 per day was living below the poverty line. "The previous government's claim that poverty has been reduced from 34 to 23.5 per cent is misleading because it used the parameter of one dollar per day," he said, adding that the previous government had spent lavishly on non-development projects. He said he would made public the balance sheet that he got on March 31 when he assumed the charge of his office.
About the new year’s budget, the finance minister said the government would review the defence budget but the security of the country borders would not be compromised. Top army officers were also ready to cooperate with the government in reviewing the defence budget, Dar said.
He said the coalition government was faced with the tough task of rebuilding the economy ruined by its predecessors. It would have to make a new beginning to resolve the serious economic crisis. The country was facing the twin trade and fiscal deficits.
Food inflation increased from 15 to 16 per cent making the goings hard for the common run of people.
International donors would be consulted over the economy and measures would be taken to resolve the economic crisis.
He said their predecessors had increased poverty and inflation due to their pro-rich, pro-elite and pro-feudal policies and wanted to make big gains without taxes. It also disturbed macro-economic stability by 'criminal’ spending in the past 11 months for influencing the election results.
He said his government faced the daunting task of restoring financial discipline and striking a balance between economic challenges and expectations of the people. He said he was reviewing the situation and would give a statement on the economy.