Growth Scenario is Robust, says Governor State Bank of Pakistan 
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: Governor State Bank Dr. Shamshad Akhtar Monday expressed optimism about achievement of growth target of about 7 percent for the current fiscal year.

"I think there are very strong fundamentals that point towards the robustness of the growth scenario", the SBP Governor told a private television channel.

She said the basic pre-requisites to sustain the growth are macro economic stability, political stability and investor confidence. If the situation is viewed in an integrated way the elements are in the right direction currently, she said.

Responding to a question, she said industrial capacity was under utilized in the past because of slow demand, but for the last few years the capacity utilization has enhanced and in some sectors it is 100 percent plus.

She said that for the last couple of years significant increase has been witnessed in gross capital formation. The national accounts are showing increase in gross fixed capital, she added.

To another question, she said that the Prime Minister had assigned the planning commission to evolve an export strategy and it has already been completed.

She said the strategy talks about targeting a very substantial growth in exports and clearly the answer is going to be diversification accompanied by higher value addition.

The SBP Governor said corporate sector is being encouraged to invest in the potential areas such as engineering, information technology, value addition in agro-based industry and minerals.●