'Pakistan to get $1.5b quick financial assistance after IMF board approval'

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shamshad Akhtar said that Pakistan would get quick disbursement of financial assistance from various multilateral institutions once the first review of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) is approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board next month, ARY News reported.

In an interview with a private news channel, she said, Pakistan would not only get $700 million from the fund but the SBA approval would also unlock financial assistance from many other multilateral financial institutions.

She said that the SBA agreement would go to the IMF Executive Board for approval before the Christmas holidays next month, hoping that on the basis of performance, if it approved the review, it would unlock about $1.5 billion quick disbursing programme, behind which there were many reforms which the government had implemented.

The minister said, that the incumbent government smoothly and peacefully implemented the second trance of IMF’s SBA programme in an environment of trust and confidence. She said all the concerned ministries and departments worked as a whole and ensured the IMF that the government was taking all measures seriously.

She said for the implementation of SBA conditions, the government withdrew import bans to promote the investment environment, eased import licensing, and stabilized the exchange rate, not only with exchange companies reforms but with the support of law enforcement agencies.

She said the grey currency market was fished out and due to these measures, the exchange rate witnessed stability.

She said that since she took over as finance minister, they have done and ensured the successful implementation of comprehensive stabilization measures due to which the economy of the country has somehow been revitalized.

She said, that although this recovery was incipient this positive trajectory would continue at least until it is propelled with additional measures.

“It is not one one-time action that revives the economy, it needs continued care,” she remarked, adding that they were fortunate that the caretaker government was given a good legal mandate and empowered that enabled it to implement these measures.

She said that the government had complied with the SBA agreement so no additional measures would be required and there would be no budget.

She expected from the the Federal Board Revenue collective revenues beyond the targeted Rs9.4 trillion as the government has more demand from the expenditure side. In the first quarter, the FBR managed to surpass the targets set by the IMF. She said, that if there was any shortfall in revenues, that would met with additional measures.

The process of restructuring and transformation of FBR is going on, we had given a briefing to the Prime Minister in this regard. She said that FBR’s internal governance would be corrected and an oversight mechanism would be developed.

Tax policy and revenue division would be separated. FBR would focus on collection while there would be a separate division for the Tax Policy and Revenue framework, she added.