ISLAMABAD
\nFederal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday dismissed concerns about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declining the staff-level agreement, exuding confidence that \u201cthe lender will approve it next month\u201d.
\nPakistan and the IMF reached an agreement on the 37-month loan programme in July. The IMF said the programme was subject to approval from its executive board and obtaining \u201ctimely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan\u2019s development and bilateral partners\u201d.
\n\u201cJust like in the past, there is unnecessary noise about the staff-level agreement not being approved, but we are hopeful that the IMF board will give its approval in September,\u201d Aurangzeb stated in an exclusive interview with Geo News.
\nReplying to a question, the top financial manager said that discussions with commercial banks regarding the provision of funds had been productive, and the improved ratings from international agencies had led to a favourable response from commercial banks.
\n\u201cLast week, the talks with the Saudi Finance Minister were also positive, while the responses from China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have also been encouraging,\u201d Aurangzeb said, adding, \u201cOur friendly countries will take the IMF into confidence through their executive directors.\u201d
\nAccording to the finance czar, Pakistan requires external financing of $3 billion over the 37-month IMF programme, with $2 billion needed this year alone. \u201cThere was noise then, too, that the IMF would not sanction it, and similar clamour was being raised about the SBA (Stand-By Arrangement)\u201d he said.
\n\u201cLike in the past, this time as well, the IMF board will greenlight the programme, hopefully in September. We are in discussions with the international lender every other day.\u201d
\nTo another query, the finance minister said the government was determined to collect taxes from traders.
\n\u201cWe are determined to collect taxes from traders and provide facilities in return. We have taken all stakeholders into confidence on this matter and will continue to do so,\u201d Aurangzeb emphasised.
\nOn Wednesday, Aurangzeb also told Reuters that Pakistan was making good progress with the IMF and hopes to get board approval in September for a new $7 billion loan programme.
\n\u201cWe are making good progress with IMF for Board approval in September,\u201d said Aurangzeb in a text message to Reuters.
\nPakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China to meet gross financing needs under the IMF programme, Aurangzeb said in July following a trip to China to seek energy sector debt reprofiling.
\nRollovers or disbursements on loans from Pakistan\u2019s long-time allies, in addition to financing from the IMF, have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past.
\nDuring an analyst briefing following the central bank\u2019s decision in July to cut rates by 100 bps, the central bank chief said he expected rollovers of $16.3 billion in the fiscal year to June 2025\u2013more than half of Pakistan\u2019s $26.2 billion external financing requirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday dismissed concerns about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declining the staff-level agreement, exuding confidence that \u201cthe lender will approve it next month\u201d. Pakistan and the IMF reached an agreement on the 37-month loan programme in July. The IMF said the programme was subject …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69319,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69288\/revisions\/69319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}