IMF, Pakistan trust crosses 8th level
The International Monetary Fund mission has once again shown confidence in the economic performance of Pakistan during 8th economic performance review in Dubai.
At the conclusion of review in Dubai last week, IMF mission head Harald Finger said that overall the economic performance of Pakistan was good and the economy was moving forward on growth and stability.
He said that a few targets had been missed slightly, but overall economic performance of the country was satisfactory.
The IMF staff mission, led by Harald Finger, held talks with Pakistan's economic team led by the Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar in Dubai during July 29-August 7, 2015 to conduct discussions on the eighth review of Pakistan's economic program supported by a threeyear IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.
The all-is-well report of the IMF mission about Pakistan would lead to the dis-
the
path towards bursement of the next tranche of over $500 million shortly.
In last two financial years, 2013-14 and 2014-15, the IMF have already provided $4.4 billion to Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility arrangement.
The IMF's loan facility has enabled the government to raise the foreign exchange reserves to record high, above $18.5 billion last month and in the days ahead the reserves are set to cross $19 billion mark after the disbursement of next tranche by the fund.
IMF team leader Harald Finger said: "We welcome the authorities' commitment and progress in implementing their eco- nomic program to improve economic resilience, promote economic growth and private sector job creation in Pakistan. After productive discussions, the mission and the Pakistani authorities have reached staff-level agreement on the completion of the eighth review under the EFF arrangement. The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Management and the Executive Board. Upon completion of this review, SDR 360 million (about US$502 million) will be made available to Pakistan.
"Pakistan's economy continues to improve. Real GDP growth is expected to increase to 4.5 percent this fiscal year, helped by macroeconomic stability, low oil prices, planned improvements in the domestic energy supply, and investment related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Inflation dropped to 1.8 percent in July, but is expected to increase in the coming months with the anticipated stabilization of commodity prices. Despite declining exports, the external current account deficit narrowed to 0.8 percent of GDP in FY 2014/15 owing to favorable oil prices and strong growth of remittances. Foreign exchange reserves of the SBP continued to increase at a healthy pace, and reached US$13.5 billion at end-June 2015, covering three months of imports.