Summary Aurangzeb said the country’s foreign exchange reserves had reached their highest level in its history, while Pakistan was also recording a current account surplus and continued growth in remittances
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said protests, sit-ins and strikes could cause an estimated loss of Rs120 billion to Pakistan’s economy each day as the country moves from economic stabilisation towards growth.
Speaking to the media, Aurangzeb said the country’s foreign exchange reserves had reached their highest level in its history, while Pakistan was also recording a current account surplus and continued growth in remittances.
He said Pakistan was progressing from economic stability towards economic growth, but developments in the Middle East were posing major challenges to global trade.
According to the finance minister, disruptions to supply chains and rising freight and insurance costs were affecting international trade.
Aurangzeb said calls for marches, sit-ins and strikes at a time of economic recovery could disrupt the country’s growth trajectory.
He estimated that protests and sit-ins could result in daily economic losses of around Rs120 billion.
The finance minister said disruption to economic activity could cause losses of approximately Rs86 billion per day to the services sector and Rs25 billion to the industrial sector, while the government could also face around Rs17 billion in revenue losses.
He described such disruption as a 'self-inflicted economic pain' for Pakistan.
