PM Shehbaz hints at announcing power relief package for winter

• Workforce for IT sector required by Saudi Arabia, Qatar: PM.
• PM Shehbaz says Azerbaijan agrees to sign $2 billion MoUs.
• Govt’s economic stability measures coming to fruition: Shehbaz.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday hinted at announcing a power relief package for the winter season and emphasised on facilitating the businessmen to boost their morale.

“We are taking measures bit by bit for relief of the common man to create jobs and run the economy. This is a tough journey but only the nations that face the challenges are destined to succeed,” he remarked, while presiding over federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.

The prime minister told the cabinet members that in a follow-up of his recent visit to Riyadh, a Pakistani delegation had left for the kingdom to discuss cooperation in mining and minerals, solar energy and skilled IT sectors for which workforce was required by both Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

He asked the IT ministry to give a presentation to explain their strategy to produce IT workforce of international standard to make them cope with the requirements of both the countries.

Calling for swift action on B2B MoUs with Saudi Arabia, PM Shehbaz said the Azerbaijan government had also given a green light for the signing of $2 billion MoUs to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

“These are good signals. How we take advantage of these is up to us,” he remarked.

Lauding the policy rate reduction by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to 15%, he said that the government’s economic stability measures were coming to fruition.

The prime minister said a further 2% reduction of the policy rate was a pleasing development for business, agriculture, exports, and commerce sectors.

He said the central bank had gradually cut the policy rate from 22% to 15%, encouraging people to invest their money in the economy to create jobs, enhance production, and exports.

"The policy rate reduction will decrease the debt burden by Rs1.3 trillion, providing huge relief and creating a great fiscal space for the country," he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz expressed the hope that the country’s economy would strengthen, if the indicators continued to move positively.