Pakistan Finance Minister Aurangzeb says meeting with IMF scheduled for April 14-15

Karachi: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday said the government will hold a meeting with the IMF on April 14 and 15 in Washington to discuss the features of the new bailout programme which the cash-strapped country is seeking, according to a media report.

The minister for finance and revenue in the Shehbaz Sharif government, while addressing journalists during his visit to the Pakistan Stock Exchange here, reiterated that the government plans to enter a major programme with the International Monetary Fund which will ensure microeconomic stability, Geo News reported.

Aurangzeb said the features of the new programme would be discussed during the meeting, while detailed talks would be held in Pakistan, the report said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz on March 21 signalled that the new IMF programme was likely to be continued for three years.

Shehbaz, while addressing a session of the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s apex committee attended by civil-military leadership, said the new tranche of loan was likely to be received from the IMF in a few days.

“However, we would need another programme,” he added.

He also said the country’s current account was “better” and the exchange rate was also “stable”, the report said.

Aurangzeb said the inflation rate has also decreased and credited the accomplishments to the stand-by arrangement (SBA) agreement during PM Shehbaz’s last tenure.

"The caretaker government did better work to restore the economy. The economy will stabilise soon owing to better economic policies,” the minister was quoted as saying.

Washington-based IMF's global team reached a staff-level agreement with the Pakistani authorities last week on the second and final review of Pakistan’s stabilisation programme supported by the global lender's USD 3 billion standby arrangement approved in July last year.