Dar will lead technical delegation to US to attend IMF, WB meetings
Business
The delegates may present fresh proposals for dollar inflows
LAHORE (Web Desk) - Finance and Revenue Minister Ishaq Dar will be visiting the United States from April 10 to 16 to attend the upcoming annual spring meeting of the Breton Wood Institutions (BWIs), known as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB).
A high-powered delegation comprising the Finance and Economic Affairs Division secretaries and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor will accompany the minister.
Sources told Dunya News that the delegates might present fresh proposals before the international financial institutions for providing dollar inflows.
They said Pakistan and the IMF could also discuss the possibility of combining the remaining 10th and 11th reviews under the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme in case the pending 9th Review is completed.
Also read: Pakistan looks towards Saudi Arabia, WB and AIIB for revival of IMF loan deal
Signed in 2019, the IMF programme is going to expire on June 30, 2023, and under the set guidelines, the programme cannot be extended beyond the deadline.
The IMF is seeking verifications from the bilateral friends of Pakistan, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, if they would provide additional assistance of $6 billion till the end of June 2023.
The coalition government has already claimed that it has fulfilled all toughest requirements set by the Fund to release $1.1bn tranche.
-- Dar avoids giving timeline for deal with IMF in Senate speech --
In his speech at the Senate on March 30, Ishaq Dar avoided giving any timeline for striking deal with the International Monetary 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.
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.
