Pakistan has no plan to get rid of IMF anytime soon

Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that Pakistan is willing to take a bigger and longer program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to a media report, Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the blueprint of the Extended Fund Facility program and the possibility of stabilizing it will also be considered in the negotiations with the IMF. The minister said that we will take commercial financing and launch bonds. Wholesalers, retailers, real estate and agricultural income will be brought into the tax net, he said and added there is a trend of reduction in inflation.

Interest rates will also be low. Days of getting money deposits from friendly countries and rollovers have gone. SIFC is the main platform for bringing in foreign investment. He further said that the reason for the IMF’s conditions is lack of trust. Like Sindh, the federation can also adopt public-private partnership. There is no lack of policy evaluation, but the government has decided to start the implementation phase instead of deliberation.

The finance minister has acknowledged that inflation is a major issue and macroeconomic stability can help to bring it down gradually. Pakistan has requested the IMF to complete the second review under the standby program so that the final tranche can be issued. He said that eradicating corporate losses, bringing end-to-end digitization in FBR, stopping cash flow from state-owned commercial enterprises are the priority agenda.

The IMF Review Mission will visit Islamabad from March 14 to 18 to complete the second review leading to the release of the final tranche of $1.1 billion.