Talks on new IMF program in mid-April: Finance Minister

Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said on Friday that Pakistan is going to join the big program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing a function held at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi and later talking to the media, the finance minister said that an economic team from Pakistan will hold talks with the IMF in Washington on the 14th and 15th of next month, after which the international The delegation of the financial institution will also come to Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan wants to join a big and long program and the features of this new program will be discussed in Washington. “We want at least a three-year program but it would be too early to talk about the scale.”

He said that during the visit to Washington, the effort will be to reach a minimum staff level agreement on the new program. ‘We will continue to promote microeconomic stability with the IMF.’

At the same time, he said that in addition to the IMF, there will also be talks with the World Bank and other institutions in Washington.

The Finance Minister said that his government’s priority is to privatize loss-making enterprises, in this regard, privatization of PIA and outsourcing of airports are being worked on.

He also said that power distribution companies or DISCOs will be reformed and privatized and strict measures will be taken against power theft.

According to him, the stock market plays an important role in the improvement of the economy and the positive trend continues in the Pakistan stock market, which is an expression of the confidence of investors.

The finance minister said that the supervisory setup has taken good steps to improve the economy, which are bearing fruit.

According to him, there has been a lot of improvement in agriculture, which has increased exports. The growth rate in this sector was five percent. There has been a bumper rice crop and good news is coming in about the wheat crop as well.’

A staff-level agreement was reached this month between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the final review of the standby arrangement, and now after the approval of the IMF’s executive board, Islamabad has released a $1.1 billion tranche. will go

Last year, to meet Pakistan’s short-term economic needs, the IMF approved a stand-by arrangement agreement, under which Pakistan was to get a loan of three billion dollars. Out of this, Pakistan has received 1.9 billion dollars so far.

During the talks in Islamabad, Pakistan also expressed interest in seeking a medium-term loan program from the IMF.

The newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif, in a meeting after taking office, directed his economic team to prepare for the recovery of the loan program from the IMF.

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