IMF team hails economic stability

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in maintaining macroeconomic stability and achieving 'impressive' economic growth despite multiple challenges.

A statement by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday said IMF’s post program monitoring mission held various rounds of technical discussions over the last week with the Pakistan’s financial team led by Secretary Finance Shahid Mahmood.

The IMF team, led by Harald Finger, discussed a host of areas, including macroeconomic situation, developments in energy, fiscal, financial, monetary and social sectors, the statement added.

Secretary Finance shared with the IMF delegation an overview of the economy. He said it is on track and key economic indicators are moving in the positive direction. Significant growth has been achieved in revenue generation so far in the current fiscal year.

Foreign direct investment climbed 74.4 percent to $940 million in the first four months of the current fiscal year. Tax revenue collection increased 20 percent in the first quarter (July-September) of 2017/18, while fiscal deficit, during the quarter, was lower than the same period a year earlier, signaling that fiscal consolidation is on track this year.

Mahmood said Pakistan achieved fiscal consolidation without compromising on expenditures on development and social protection. The government set its eyes on achieving six percent GDP growth “which is inclusive, pro-poor and sustainable”.

Secretary Finance also apprised the IMF delegation of recent launch of sukuk and Eurobond. The country raised US dollar denominated sukuk and Eurobond worth $2.5 billion in New York against the total offered amounts from investors of $8 billion. It raised $1 billion through five year sukuk at rate of 5.625 percent and $1.5 billion with 10 year Eurobond maturity at rate of 6.875 percent.

On Friday the mission met Governor Tariq Bajwa of State Bank of Pakistan, the statement added. The mission also held meetings with the ministries of commerce and railways, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

It met senior officials in other ministries including energy, planning development and reforms, State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue, and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and held technical discussions on key areas.

The post program monitoring is an annual feature of the Fund whereby overall economic conditions of a member country, which is no more in a program relationship and owes funds to the IMF, are monitored and a report is presented to the executive board of the Fund. The monitoring will continue till 2024.

Last IMF’s mission level visit to Pakistan took place in late 2013. The current visit was taking place after a gap of more than three years, reflecting an improved security conditions as well as the economic performance of the country and growing trust of the international community.