The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurengzeb, said Wednesday that conversations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were directed in the “correct address.”
An IMF mission led by VAT Petrova held a formal starting meeting with the Pakistan economic team to review the implementation of EFF and RSF. The performance of the program at the end of June this year, the period under review, has been mixed.
He made the comments while talking to journalists when he left a meeting of the Permanent Senate Committee on Finance and Income in Islamabad. The minister told journalists that the installation of extended funds (EFF) of $ 7.1 billion and the resilience and sustainability of $ 1.1 billion (RSF) were reviewed.
“Until now, all good,” he said. The EFF is experiencing its second review, while the RSF is being reviewed for the first time.
When asked about the reviews and if they will end before October 8, Aurengzeb said: “Any discussion that is happening, they are moving in the right direction.”
In addition, Aurengzeb spoke about the Federal Income Board (FBR) registering a deficit of RS198bn in the first quarter of the fiscal year and described the strategy to relieve this.
“We want to obtain the 11 percent GDP FBO tax for the end of this fiscal year,” he said. “We want to remain very committed to that goal. As you know, there are certain pending judicial cases … Let’s see how the court decides and that can help close part of this gap.”
Pakistan and the IMF reached an aid package of three years and $ 7 billion in July of last year, giving a very necessary respite to the nation. The new program was aimed at allowing Pakistan to “cimenda macroeconomic stability and creates conditions for stronger, more inclusive and resistant growth.”
In May of this year, the IMF Board approved a new loan of $ 1.4 billion to help Pakistan strengthen their economic resistance to climatic vulnerabilities and natural disasters. However, the disbursement of the funds depends on the successful completion of the reviews under the EFF, said an IMF official.
