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Country’s per-capita income up by $120, says Shaukat Aziz
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Senator Shaukat Aziz has said the per-capita income of the country during the year had risen to US $600 Dollars whereas during the same period of last year the per-capita Income level was US $480.
Addressing the industrialists and businessmen at the Inauguration ceremony of LG Air-Conditioner Factory at Winder, Balochistan on Sunday, he said all indicators showed that this year the GDP Growth rate target of 5.3 percent would be crossed " by a substantial margin".
He said Government would consider providing tariff concessions to the refrigeration industry in coming federal budget to promote new investment in this sector.
He, however, cautioned the industrial sector of the country to be ready to compete with industrialised world by improving their quality.
He said, “gone are the days when industries were raised by putting up safety valves of tariff protection”, adding that now industries of the country must come up with lowering their production cost so that they could compete with imported items in the days to come due to enforcement of provisions of the World Trade Organisation".
The disbursement of credit to the private sector has recorded a triple increase against the disbursement of credit of Rs.77 billion during the same period of last year, he said.
He said the rapid rise in the credit expansion in the private sector indicated that fresh industrial investment was being made and present manufacturing capacities were being augmented.
He said the non-oil, non-foods imports, which included machinery and plants, had risen by a record 29 percent, which showed that tremendous industrial investment in the country was under way.
He said latest figures show that industrial production of the country had risen by 15 percent while exports had increased by 14 percent.
He said the expansion of consumer credit was helping establishment of middle class on a sound footing.
Earlier Mian Pervaiz Akthar, CEO of the New Allied Electronics Industries (Private), Limited, while welcoming the Finance Minister, suggested provision of tariff concessions to the Air-Conditioner Industry of the country along the pattern of TV Manufacturing Industry so that the local production could be augmented to meet rising demand and for import substitution.
