IMF ‘satisfied’ with Pakistan but no deal this week

Pakistan's Finance Minister said that the IMF is "satisfied" with Pakistan's actions but the staff-level agreement cannot be signed this week

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is “satisfied” with Pakistan’s actions but the staff-level agreement cannot be signed this week, media reports said.

“We seem to be very close to signing the staff-level agreement, hopefully in the next few days,” Dar said in his address during a seminar, Geo News reported.

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However, the Finance Minister, while citing his experience of completing 12 reviews of the “one and only” IMF programme Pakistan completed, shared that “it has taken longer than it should have” for Islamabad to complete the pending ninth review.

“I think we owe to this nation that we show seriousness, we deliver, and we demonstrate to the world that we can honour the sovereign commitments no matter who made those,” said Dar.

He also assured that his team is “absolutely committed” to complete the programme to the “best” of its ability, Geo News reported.

While berating the previous Imran Khan-led government, Dar shared the situation of the economy when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government left in 2018.

The minister said that it pained him to see the economy fall to the rank of 47 in 2022 after it was predicted that Pakistan would join G20 by the end of 2030, Geo News reported.

Dar also highlighted that the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) market capitalisation was over $100 billion but dropped to $26 billion in the last few years.

“Another serious issue that we should be pondering about is the debt sustainability of Pakistan,” said the Finance Minister, adding that it was under $30 trillion in 2018 and has now climbed to $55 trillion in 2022.