ISLAMABAD, Minister for Petroleum and Water Resources Musadik Masood Malik on Thursday said Pakistan was heading in the right direction as it had successfully controlled inflation, achieved substantial growth in agriculture sector and witnessed a raise increase in forex reserves.

He was speaking at the concluding plenary of the four-day Sustainable Development Conference organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), said press release.

He said the current government had three key priorities, and these were decreasing inflation, ensuring better public life and reducing poverty.

“The government aspires to take the GDP growth rate from 2.4 per cent to 3 per cent as its agriculture sector was growing at a rate of 6.3 per cent, ensuring better economic activity in the rural areas,” he said.

He said investment in social protection initiatives like the BISP and increase in PSDP funding would help ensure development and increase in livelihood opportunities for the younger generation.

The minister said decreasing policy rate, rising foreign reserves and growing foreign direct investment commitments were optimistic indicators that strengthened the country’s economic outlook.