ISLAMABAD : Finance minister , Miftah Ismail , has agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the government would take a number of tough decisions to avert fast growing economic crisis in Pakistan . The Finance minister also agreed with IMF officials that Pakistan will push forward much – needed reforms to enhance pace of growth of the national economy and overcome its domestic economic vows .
Pakistan and IMF have commenced crucial talks in Doha , Qatar that would decide the fate of $ 1 billion tranche to Islamabad under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.
The fund had delayed the release of the tranche seeing lack of commitment of Pakistan’s government . Since Pakistan is facing the worst ever crisis at home it urgently needs release of the funds under EFF. However, Islamabad needs to fulfill its commitments like set a target of over Rs 7 trillion revenue collection for 2022-23. The fund also want that Pakistan should get out totally from the culture of subsidies .
Finance minister , Miftah Ismail , is leading Pakistan,’s economic team having talks with IMF officials in Doha, Qatar. The finance minister’s team comprises the state minister for Finance , Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Finance secretary , Yaqub Shaikh , deputy governor State Bank , Syed Mujtaba , Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman, Asim Ahmad and senior officials of the Finance Division . Soon after taking over charge as Finance minister in Shahbaz Sharif government , Miftah Ismail had rushed to Washington to seek IMF’s approval for release of the 7th tranche under EFF. The fund released a statement after having first meeting with IMF in Washington in April last . It said “We had very productive meetings with the Finance Minister of Pakistan Miftah Ismail over Pakistan’s economic developments and policies under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)” .
The fund had presented a set of demands from the government in the last round of talks with Finance minister , Miftah Ismail . A handout issued by the fund on the outcome of previous round of talks included a set of demands for Pakistan to qualify for due tranche of $1 billion .
The statement issued by the fund clearly indicated the grey areas . It said
“We agreed that prompt action is needed to reverse the unfunded subsidies which have slowed discussions for the 7th review. Based on the constructive discussions with the authorities in Washington, the IMF expects to field a mission to Pakistan in May to resume discussions over policies for completing the 7th EFF review. The authorities have also requested the IMF to extend the EFF arrangement through June 2023 as a signal of their commitment to address existing challenges and achieve the program objectives”. The first and foremost concern of IMF is unfunded subsidies on power and petroleum products . Pakistan -IMF talks will continue for a few more days.
