rates, removal of non - adjustable withholding taxes, elimination of exemptions and detailed audit. moreover, the tax survey and documentation drive during 1999 - 2000 has allowed the cbr to bring in additional income tax payers and new sales tax payers into the tax net. it has also profiled 600, 000 tax payers which will help enhance the effectiveness of tax assessment, and help detect tax evasion and under - reporting. tariff reforms pakistan made significant efforts in liberalizing its trade regime during the 1990s. the maximum tariff rate has declined from 225 percent in 1990 - 1 to 25 percent ; the average tariff rate stands at just 11 percent compared to 65 percent a decade ago. the number of duty slabs has also been reduced to four. quantitative import restrictions have already been eliminated except those relating to security, health, public morals, religious and cultural concerns. the number of statutory orders that exempted certain industries from import duties has been phased out by june 2004 and import duties on 4, 000 items were reduced. these measures have brought down effective rate of protection, eliminated the anti - export bias and promoted competitive and efficient industries. a number of laws have also been promulgated to bring the trade regime in conformity with world trade organization regulations. these include antidumping and countervailing measures and strengthening of intellectual property rights. privatization public sector corporations have been a constant source of burden on the budget as well as quasi - fiscal accounts. as much as one - third of the fiscal deficit could be directly attributed to the losses of public corporations. in addition, nationalized commercial banks had been carrying a large burden of these corporations. a new law was promulgated under which privatization can take place. this step was necessary to ensure transparency, provide an institutional and legal framework, avoid unnecessary delays and litigations, and outline the process through which the transactions are to be carried out. four major banks along with several other key public sector units have already been sold to strategic investors in the private sector. shares of large companies such as oil and gas development company ltd. and pakistan petroleum ltd. have been divested through public offerings. plans to sell the pakistan telecommunications co. ltd. ( ptcl ) and pakistan state oil ( pso ) – the two giants - are under implementation. deregulation as pakistan has embarked on the process of creating competitive markets and eliminating direct or implicit consumer and producer subsidies, a number of steps have been taken to deregulate prices and trading in various sectors.

governor title date event venue : mr. tariq bajwa : keynote address : march 18, 2019 : bloomberg pakistan economic forum : movenpick hotel karachi. ladies and gentlemen, assalam - o - alaikum and good morning! first of all, i would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to this forum. i ’ m pleased to have the opportunity to address you today. as you are all aware, pakistan ’ s economy is going through a phase of transition. on the one hand, stabilization policies are in place to ensure a stable macroeconomic environment which is vital for economic development ; and on the other, the government is pursuing wide - ranging reforms to improve the ease of doing business in the country and minimize the cost of stabilization measures after experiencing a spell of rising gdp growth between fy14 and fy17, pakistan ’ s economy is set for a calibrated moderation. this is a result of the high fiscal and cad which was registered in fy 18. unless we are able to grapple the three core macroeconomic issues i. e. low savings, low revenue generation and high trade gap, sustainable high growth will continue to be a challenge. page 1 of 9 the twin objectives of macroeconomic policies are growth and stability. with the twin deficit moving to unsustainable territory, stability became a priority over growth. in view of the pressures building in the economy we had begun to take policy measures. in december 2017, there was an adjustment in the exchange rate. a month later, sbp ’ s monetary policy committee initiated the tightening cycle, which to date has resulted in a cumulative upward revision of 450 basis points in the policy rate i. e. to 10. 25 percent. and the rupee has moved 31 % against the dollar during the same period. however, it has been hard to shift the focus of fiscal policy. while the economic growth is slowing down - which in turn is hurting the revenue growth - many of the government ’ s expenditures are non - discretionary in nature, especially debt servicing, and increase in defense expenditure under the existing tension with india. on the other hand, government receipts both tax and non - tax are below target. therefore, the deficit in the fiscal accounts has persisted at a high level. the need for taking the tax to gdp ratio to atleast 15 % cannot be overemphasized. without this a primary and revenue surplus will be a mirage. on the external front, the