PM congratulates nation as PSX hits 100,000 milestone

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday felicitated the nation as the benchmark KSE 100-Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) hit the milestone of 100,000 points for the first time amid expected drop in November’s inflation and possibility of a bigger interest rate cut.

KSE-100 Index surged 813.5 points or 0.82 per cent to close at historic 100,082.77 points, after hitting an intra-day high of 100,540.29 points.

The stocks had retreated two days back due to political volatility, with the market suffering over 3,500-point crash after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) protest march on Islamabad turned violent. However, it bounced back to surge by more than 4,600 points and close at 99,269.25, soon after the protesters left the federal capital following a government crackdown.

Market experts credited the historic PSX achievement to several factors, particularly the government’s unwavering commitment to implementing reforms.

The Prime Minister in a statement said the stock market surge reflects the confidence of the business community and investors in the government’s economic policies.

Lauding the efforts of the government’s economic team for the promotion of investment in the country, he said he had pledged with the nation to take all out measures for economic stability and national development. He said the government’s sacrifice of its politics to save the country from default did not go in vain.

Speaking at the 26th National Security Workshop of Defence University, the Prime Minister reaffirmed government’s resolve to transform Pakistan’s economic landscape, and said the national security had direct linkages with the economic security. “If we are economically strong, our exports are growing fast, industrial sector is expanding, our economic security will automatically strengthen our critical security,” he added.

Emphasising the government’s commitment to execute a comprehensive “Charter of Economy”, the Prime Minister said in 2018, he as an opposition leader, also suggested the idea of charter of economy and now “We are fully prepared to execute this idea”.

He stressed the need to privatise all the State Own Entities (SOEs). “The government’s mandate is only to facilitate the private businesses, he said, adding: “We should completely do away with the businesses to save trillions of rupees.”

The Prime Minister said all the institutions were on the same page and he and the Army chief were also fully aligned on that issue.

Over Pakistan Stock Exchange’s strong performance, he said this was the result of team effort and close coordination among the federal government and various stakeholders. “This is also about business sentiments and we believe that Pakistan is slowly and steadily moving towards right direction.”

He said the day before yesterday the stock market witnessed a steep fall of around 4000 points due to what happened in Islamabad, however, he added, as the situation became normal, the market rebounded in next couple of days and crossed the 100,000 points which never happened in Pakistan’s history.