ISLAMABAD, June 28(ABC): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday addressed the “Turn Around Pakistan” conference, where he spoke about receiving a text from Finance Minister Miftah Ismail this morning, saying Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Miftah Ismail sent a message this morning saying that Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the IMF. I told him in response, our goal is self-reliance,” the premier told the audience.
The prime minister’s address comes shortly after Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail confirmed Pakistan has received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.
The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to pave the way towards striking a staff-level agreement.
Now that Pakistan has received this document, it will be analysed and scrutinised for three days by the country’s economic team. The finance minister and State Bank of Pakistan governor will then sign it if no major problem is found. The staff-level agreement will then be presented before the IMF’s Executive Board next month for approval, after which the tranche will be released.
The MEFP may be considered as the crux of decisions negotiated between Pakistan and the Fund because it includes policy actions and structural benchmarks the two sides agreed on.
Ismail also addressed the conference prior to PM Shehbaz Sharif’s speech.
He said that when he messaged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about the development, he replied: “Well done. But remember our ultimate goal is the journey towards self-reliance. That will be our legacy,” Miftah said, quoting PM Shehbaz.
The minister said that fortunately, Pakistan has taken a step towards this journey and will achieve self-reliance soon.
“I believe that if Pakistan only focuses on economic growth for the next 10 years, this goal is not impossible,” Miftah.
The minister went on to say that Pakistan couldn’t afford a fifth budget deficit after four record budget deficits in the last four years.
“Rs20,000 billion was borrowed in around four years,” he said.
He said that Pakistan has to deal with Rs4,000 billion in debt servicing today because of an increase in the interest rate and doubling of debt.
The government had to take tough decisions to bring Pakistan on the path to progress, he added.