KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday said most of the legislation, done by the government, pertained to the capital market a new company law was in pipeline and would be enacted soon.
The law, which was being revised after 1984, would further boost the capital market, he added.
“During last one and a quarter years, various bills about the capital market have been passed and made Acts. Three more laws are in the process. After 1984, a new company law is coming soon. We are working on it for the last one year,” he told the corporate leaders here at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) who had gathered at an awards ceremony.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif gave away awards to the top 25 companies of PSX for their best performance in the capital market during 2015-16.
The event was tagged as “Recognizing Corporate Leaders Who are Contributing towards Economic Growth of the Country.”
Besides, a cluster of business leaders, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul-Ibad Khan and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Ashraf Mehmood Wathra, PSX Chairman Muneer Kamal and Chief Executive Officer Nadeem Naqvi, Chairman Pakistan Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Zaffarul-Haq Hijazi were present.
The Finance Minister appreciated the rapid growth of capital market after demutualization/merger of three stock exchanges. The PSX was performing excellently and had won the recognition as one of the top ten stock markets of the world, he said.
He said a stock exchange had direct link to economic stability of a country. Many things had improved over the last one and a half years and Pakistan had now been declared as a stable economy.
He listed achievements of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in economic and social sectors.
He said on coming into power three years back, the main three challenges to the PML-N government were revival of economy, addressing energy crisis and combating terrorism in the country.
The government, he added was successfully doing those jobs. Economy had been revived and placed on the right track, energy shortage had been covered significantly and the issue would be fully addressed in 2018. 25000 MW projects were in progress and 15000 MW would be added to the national Gird by 2018, he added.
Terrorism had almost been wiped out from the country, he added.
He expressed his satisfaction that 4.7 per cent gross domestic growth (GDP) had been achieved and the target for 2018 was 7 percent.
He said if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) elected in the next general elections, its target would be to achieve GDP growth in double digit.
He said the budget deficit was also cut to half – from 8.8 per cent to 4.6 per cent. “A leader always gives vision. So did Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif,” he added.
The minister pledged that in the remaining two years of its tenure, the government would be focussing on fast economic growth.
He hinted at more good news from the government to be coming for the people next year.
He said the present government had made Pakistan an autonomous, strong and prosperous country.
