ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has reiterated the federal government’s commitment to complete the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
He gave this commitment during a meeting with US Embassy Charge’d Affaires Andrew Schofer here yesterday. The minister exchanged views on bilateral relations held with the United States on economic and trade fronts.
Ishaq Dar apprised the diplomat of the economy of the country and discussed the current challenges being faced by the country. He further communicated about the difficult policy decisions recently taken by the Pakistan government with the aim of stabilizing the economy and then taking the economy to an upward curve ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth. The finance minister also informed the Charge’d Affaires about the on-going IMF programme and assured him that the government is committed to complete the program. Mr. Andrew Schofer voiced his confidence in the policies and programmes of government of Pakistan for economic stability of the country and extended his support to advance the existing economic and trade relations between both the countries. Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar thanked the US Charge’d Affaires and reiterated the desire of the government to further expand bilateral trade and investment ties with the USA. Pakistan and IMF have yet to reach a staff level agreement as both sides are continuously negotiating since January 31 this year. The government had met all prior actions of the IMF. The government has taken all tough decisions including increasing power and gas prices massively and imposing new taxation measures worth of Rs170 billion. Pakistan had accepted two more conditions. The government, on the IMF demand, has imposed a surcharge of up to Rs3.23 per unit on electricity consumers across the country from July 1.