WASHINGTON – Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is expected to highlight Pakistan’s progress towards economic reforms, export trajectory, growth prospects and the importance of international partnership in the country’s development in a series of talks at annual World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings.
The finance minister will lead a team of Pakistan’s top economic managers at spring meetings that bring together leaders of the world finance and heads of international financial institutions. Besides representing Pakistan at various forums of World Bank and IMF, Dr
Sheikh is scheduled to meet World Bank President Robert Zoellick, senior IMF officials and his counterparts from several countries including Germany, China and the UK Secretary of State for International Development during his stay in Washington.
According to officials, the finance minister will also interact with American business leaders and draw attention to tremendous investment opportunities that many sectors of the Pakistani economy hold for foreign entrepreneurs. He will address the Pakistan-US Business Council at the Chamber of Commerce and Business Council for International Understanding. He will also hold meetings with US officials on augmenting trade and economic ties.
The finance minister will also have a meeting with IMF Mission Chief for Pakistan Adnan Mazaeri and discuss progress towards completion of the $11.3 billion programme ahead of the fifth review of the performance for release of last two remaining tranche of $3.3 billion. Officials say despite last year’s flooding catastrophe and security challenges along the Afghan border, Pakistan is on an improved growth trajectory in contrast to earlier bleak forecasts. The yield of major crop groups including wheat and cotton are expected to surpass targets while exports, particularly those of food items and textiles, are set to fetch additional billions in valuable foreign exchange. It was also noted that remittances sent by expatriate Pakistanis are also a very valuable asset as the country is on course to receive around $11 billion this financial year.
The finance minister and his team are also expected to dilate on the government’s efforts to tackle challenges like inflationary pressures and the great demand placed on limited energy resources. Pakistani leaders will also apprise their interlocutors of steps the government is taking to bolster revenue generation, control expenditures and contain fiscal deficit. Also represented in the Pakistani delegation will be state bank governor, planning commission deputy chairman, finance secretary, economic affairs division secretary and the federal board of revenue chairman.
