Aurangzeb lauds IMF, WB support extended to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday appreciated the support of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank extended to Pakistan for economic development.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, attended the G-24, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, said a press release issued here.

The Minister talked about reforms in the areas of taxation, energy, privatization and digitalization, and underlined the need to bring in more private sector investment and leverage the “Adaptation Fund” to help the country deal with adverse impacts of the climate change.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday briefed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) team on the government economic reforms in Pakistan.

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He briefed on the ongoing reforms in the taxation, energy and privatization sectors, said a press release issued here.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday met with Ms. Hela Cheikhrouhou, regional vice President for MCT, International Finance Corporation (IFC).

He briefed her on the ongoing reforms in the taxation, energy and privatization sectors, said a press release issued here.

Moreover, he expressed the resolve of the Government of Pakistan to work closely with IFC in the priority areas of securitization of remittances, mining, airport management and capacity-building.

In an interview with a foreign news agency, Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb says the United States is the largest trading partner of Pakistan and it has always supported us in terms of investment.

he said it is always be a very critical relationship for Pakistan.

The Minister said Pakistan has initiated discussions with the International Monetary Fund over a new multi-billion dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform program.

He said the market confidence and the market sentiment in Pakistan is in much better shape during the current fiscal year.

Muhammad Aurangzeb said we have initiated the discussion with the Fund to get into a larger and an extended program.

Turning to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, he said a lot of investment, especially in infrastructure, came through CPEC.

The Minister said there is a very good opportunity for Pakistan to enhance trade with countries like Vietnam.

He said we have already a few examples of that already working. But what we need to do is to really scale the trade up.

Turning to privatization programme of State Owned Enterprises, the Minister said we will get to know in the next month with respect to interest from prospective bidders particularly about the national airline.

He said our desire is to go through with that privatization and take it through the finishing line by the end of June.

The Minister expressed the confidence that if the PIA privatization goes well for the government, other companies could soon follow it.