Pakistan made progress in advancing reforms with sound economic policies: IMF
Last updated on: 14 February,2020 08:40 pm
Ramirez Rigo said that Pakistan's current account deficit had declined due to the real exchange rate
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday said that Pakistan has made considerable progress in the last few months in advancing reforms and continuing with sound economic policies.
According to a statement issued on Friday at the conclusion of the IMF s mission s visit to Pakistan, the IMF credited Pakistan with meeting the all-end December performance criteria and said that structural benchmarks had been completed.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, visited Islamabad during February 3-13, to initiate discussions on the second review of the authorities’ economic reform program supported under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.
Ramirez Rigo said that the IMF staff team had constructive and productive discussions with the Pakistani authorities and commended them on the considerable progress made during the last few months in advancing reforms and continuing with sound economic policies.
He said that Pakistan s current account deficit had declined due to the real exchange rate "that is now broadly in line with fundamentals", while international reserves continue to rebuild at a pace considerably faster than anticipated.
The IMF mission head went on to say that the inflation will Inflation should start to see a declining trend as the pass-through of exchange rate depreciation has been absorbed and supply-side constraints appear to be temporary.
"Fiscal performance in the first half of the fiscal year remained strong, with the general government registering a primary surplus of 0.7 percent of GDP on the back of strong domestic tax revenue growth. Development and social spending have been accelerated," he added.