Dar avoids giving timeline for deal with IMF in Senate speech
Business
The minister reiterates the country won't default on its payment obligations
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Finance and Revenue Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday avoided giving any timeline for striking deal with the International Moneatry Fund (IMF) during his speech in the Senate (Upper House), saying “all technical-level discussions are over.
Responding to a Question/Answer session at the Senate, he said the global lender wanted commitments made by friendly countries to materialise.
The minister reiterated that the country won't default on its payment obligations. “There is no question of default, Pakistan will manage its responsibilities and will make every payment on time.
“IMF or no IMF, we need to jointly run the country, and there should be no politics on the economy,” he added. Regarding the agreement with the IMF, Ishaq Dar said technical discussions with the lender had been completed.
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The Senate was informed that the foreign exchange reserves stood at about $10 billion and the target was to take them to $13bn by June this year.
Leader of the House and Ishaq Dar told the House during Question Hour that there had been improvement in foreign exchange reserves over the last five weeks.
He said the government has not deferred any international obligation ever since coming to power and is making timely payments. He said our external debt has actually gone down.
In his remarks, Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar told the House that the process of 7th Population and Housing Census was in progress and had to be completed before 30th of next month.
He said it is the first time that digital census is being carried out for which 35 billion rupees were earmarked in the budget 2022-23. He said if the results of the census get confirmed, the delimitations and next elections should be held under it.
Taking the floor, Minister for Commerce Naveed Qamar told the House that the country had sufficient stocks of all staple items. He said our thrust in future will be enhancing agriculture exports.
The Senate also held discussion on the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill, 2023.
Sharing main features of the Bill, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said it proposes constituting the benches and allocation of cases by a committee comprising Chief Justice and two senior most judges.
He said right of appeal has been given under the bill. The minister said such a law was the longstanding demand of the Bar Councils and Bar Associations.
