PM, IMF team exchange notes

ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and a visiting delegation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday exchanged notes for possible replacement of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, who is leaving the Federal Cabinet on February 28.
According to well-placed sources, the Government has handed over a short list of candidates to the IMF delegation for review in case the Bretton Wodds Institution had any objection on them.
The sources further informed TheNation that the list included the hot favourites of both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, the names already circulating in the media reports.
Meanwhile a PPP stalwart, Labour Minister Khursheed Ahmed Shah, while talking to the journalists at Parliament House said that there was nothing final as yet for the new finance minister. He added that it was an important decision that would certainly take time.
Earlier the sources insisted that the Prime Minister had already consulted the President. After the consultations with the IMF, the process of appointing a new finance minister is already completed and a final decision in this regard was on the cards over the weekend.
Meanwhile an official handout about the emergent meeting that took place at the Chaklala Airbase quoted the PM as saying, The Government attaches high priority to improving the state of economy.
The two-member IMF delegation included Masood Ahmed, Director Middle East and Central Asia, and Paul R Roos, Regional Director.
According to the PM, the global recession badly affected all the countries but Pakistan sustained these pressures. This, he added, was in addition to the war on terror because of which the Government had to cut down development budget.
Director IMF for Middle East and Central Asia, Masood Ahmed, expressed satisfaction over the progress made by Pakistan in stabilising the economy and appreciated the steps taken to bring down the inflation.
The delegation hoped that the steps being taken to broaden the tax base as well as the system for collection of taxes and better management of public sector entrepreneurs could prove beneficial for Pakistans economy.