ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, held several high-level meetings with the International Monetary Fund's senior leadership to review Pakistan's macroeconomic performance and assess progress under the current IMF-supported reform program.
A statement from Pakistan’s finance ministry in Islamabad on Thursday said that the minister met with IMF First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz, Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department Jihad Azour, and Pakistan Mission Chief Iva Petrova.
According to the statement, “Senator Aurangzeb highlighted Pakistan's improving economic indicators, including stronger fiscal and external balances, successful achievement of revenue targets, higher foreign exchange reserves, record remittance inflows, and an improved current account position.”
Implementation of reforms
The discussions, the statement added, also focused on the implementation of reforms under the Extended Fund Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.
“Key areas of discussion included tax and energy sector reforms, privatization, tariff rationalization, debt management, diversification of financing sources, and Pakistan's efforts to regain access to international capital markets.”
The statement further said that the two sides also exchanged views on long-term economic priorities, including human capital development, women's economic empowerment, addressing demographic challenges, promoting technology-driven growth, and advancing private sector-led, export-oriented development.
The finance minister thanked the IMF leadership for acknowledging Pakistan's strong ownership of the reform program and the progress achieved so far.
The statement went on to say that the minister reaffirmed the Pakistan government's commitment to maintaining fiscal discipline, strengthening policy credibility, implementing structural reforms, and ensuring sustainable long-term economic growth.
