As Finance Minister Asad Umar leads a delegation to Washington to finalise a three-year bailout programme, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday forecast Pakistan’s growth to fall to 2.9 per cent and 2.8pc during the current and next fiscal year unless its programme was accepted.
The delegation led by finance minister including State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa, Finance Secretary Younas Dagha, Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed and senior officials from these institutions would attend the spring meetings (April 9 – 14) of the IMF and the World Bank and finalise a bailout package to stabilise macroeconomic fundamentals on the sidelines.
Before leaving for Washington, the minister had said the proposed IMF programme would be finalised on the sidelines of the spring meetings which will be followed by a fund staff mission’s visit to Islamabad in the third week of the current month to formally sign the agreement.
Finance ministry’s spokesperson was not available for comment but Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that Mr Umar is currently in Washington to hold talks with IMF to negotiate terms of agreement — which he said are in the final stages — but another round of talks will be held in a few days in which the loaning plan will be finalised. He added that the tax amnesty scheme will be formally launched after the finance minister’s return to Islamabad.
