LAHORE, Jan (DNA) – Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that future road-map of Pakistan and South Asia region is economic growth.

He was addressing a ceremony of South Asian Federation of Accountants in Lahore. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would not only prove beneficial for Pakistan but also for the entire region.

Ishaq Dar said TAPI gas pipeline project, CPEC, CASA-1000 and AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) are the very important initiatives which would help improve economic growth rate.

He said the PML-N government had always put the country’s economy on track to speedy growth as today twenty-two credible institutions of the world have declared Pakistan economy as much stable.

The Finance Minister said government managed to bring down the budget deficit to 4.3 per cent from 8.8 per cent, besides ensuring tax growth rate up to 33 per cent in two years.

He said the agri credit had also been doubled as of today it is over six hundred billion rupees and development expenditure also enhanced to seven hundred billion rupees. Pakistan could easily attain six to seven per cent growth rate.

Ishaq Dar said the government is also taking effective steps to end energy crisis and 10,000 MW would be added into the national grid by March 2018. DNA