Tarin hopes successful outcome of negotiations with IMF
Govt thought that IMF's demand to increase power tariffs would trigger inflation: Tarin
ISLAMABAD (APP) - Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin Thursday expressed hope for successful outcome of top level negotiations between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF), for putting the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) back on track.
“I believe that the progress we have made to date is really encouraging and as we say Inshallah I see this happening now in this visit,” the federal minister said in an interview at United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on ‘Pakistan’s Economic Future’.
The minister said that the concluding 6th round of talks with IMF was the most important part of his visit to United States (US), adding that many virtual meetings already took place while the technical level discussions have also been concluded.
He said, at the final, meetings would be held with seniors at the IMF, including Managing Director of the Fund.
The minister said his government thought that IMF’s demand to increase power tariffs would trigger inflation, adding that this point was made in technical discussion with the fund, which was also informed that the increase in tariff would be made in gradually manner so that it does not have abrupt impact on inflation.
He said that there were some problems on power side, including excessive capacity, for which the government had to pay, adding the performance of distribution and generation companies was also being improved. He said all this was being successfully negotiated with the IMF.
