Statement at the Conclusion of an IMF Mission to Pakistan

November 20, 2018

End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. This mission will not result in a Board discussion.
  • The Pakistani authorities and IMF staff have made significant progress toward reaching an understanding on policy priorities and reforms that could be supported by a financial arrangement with the IMF.
  • Discussions will continue in the coming weeks toward reaching staff-level agreement.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Harald Finger visited Islamabad from November 7-20, 2018 to initiate discussions on a financial arrangement with the IMF requested by the Pakistani authorities to support their economic reform program. At the end of the visit, Mr. Finger made the following statement:

“The IMF mission has been engaged in productive discussions with the Pakistani authorities on economic policies and reforms that could be supported by a financial arrangement with the IMF. In this context, there has been broad agreement on the need for a comprehensive agenda of reforms and policy actions aimed at reducing the fiscal and current account deficits, bolstering international reserves, strengthening social protection, enhancing governance and transparency, and laying the foundations for a sustainable job-creating growth path.

“Our dialogue with the Pakistani authorities will continue over the coming weeks.

“The team is grateful to the authorities for open and constructive discussions. The team met with Minister of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Asad Umar; Minister of Planning Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister of State for Revenues Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Institutional Reforms and Austerity Ishrat Hussain, SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa, BISP Chairwoman Sania Nishtar, Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, FBR Chairman Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, provincial Finance Ministers, parliamentarians, other senior officials, and representatives of the donor community.”

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