Pakistan do not need IMF loans says Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh

Pakistan do not need IMF loans says Finance Minister Dr.  Abdul Hafeez Shaikh

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Finance, Dr.  Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Wednesday that Pakistan would not need loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rather it would rely on its own fiscal reform programme to enhance the economic sustainability.

In an interview with London-based Financial Times, Hafiz Sheikh said that the terms and conditions of International Monetary Fund had become too tough so the government has decided not to negotiate a new programme with IMF and would instead go ahead with
a homegrown reform programme.

“We need to signal to the world our continued commitment to reforms and to pursuing a series of steps required to remain financially disciplined,” said Mr Shaikh in the interview with Financial Times.  “We want to achieve the kind of benchmarks we have set
in our own domestic reforms programme. This is a government that wishes to be serious about fiscal restraint,” he added further.

To avoid a Balance of Payments (BOP) crisis, the sitting government of Pakistan had negotiated a loan package of $11.3 billion with the IMF in 200. However, differences over fiscal management led to the effective suspension of the programme at the end of
2010.

The finance minister said that following some disagreements over fiscal reforms, the government of Pakistan government of Pakistan did not receive the final tranche of the three-year-old  programme amounting $3.7 billion.

Financial Times reported that Paul Ross, the IMF’s representative in Pakistan, is expected to return to Washington in the next couple of weeks. However, IMF’s mission chief for Pakistan Adnan Mazarei is scheduled to lead an IMF delegation to visit Islamabad
on November 10.

While talking to a local TV network, IMF’s mission chief for Pakistan said that the aim of IMF is to strengthen the budgetary position of Pakistan as soon as possible.

“What we need in the coming period, very quickly and very clearly, is a strengthening of the budgetary position,” Mr Mazarei,. “There have been some structural reforms and the government has taken some steps but much more is needed,” he added further.

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Posted by Asma Rafique on Nov 2 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry