ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the country is witnessing an economic turnaround and moving fast towards fiscal stability.

Addressing a ceremony held on Tuesday for distributing tax refund cheques to exporters, the PM said that peace in the country, especially in Karachi, would help boost economic activities, helping attract investment in different sectors of the economy.

Nawaz Sharif said that the government has embarked upon a comprehensive programme to ensure sustained availability of cheap electricity for industrial, agricultural and domestic consumers.

The PM said it was for the first time that practical measures were being taken to generate electricity from Thar coal.

“Greater dependence on Thar coal would also lead to the reduction in overall generation cost,” he said, adding: “This will make Pakistani products competitive in the international market.”

Expressing the confidence that 2018 would be a zero-loadshedding year, Sharif said that power outages were at the lowest level this summer.

“Three LNG-based projects were also nearing completion and they would start generating 3,600 megawatts of electricity by next year,” said the PM.

He said the country effected savings of Rs100 billion in these three projects as no kickbacks and corruption was involved.