Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday categorically said that there is neither any explicit nor implicit understanding with the IMF on the devaluation of rupee.
He was speaking at the launch of the sixth annual report of the Institute of Public Policy, Beaconhouse National University. The finance minister said the issue of adjustment of rupee dollar parity was not even discussed. He urged the economic experts to refrain from issuing such speculative statements which neither serve any purpose nor are in national interest.
He said Pakistan had to enter into the programme with IMF at a time when it was going through one of the most difficult economic phases in its history. He said they were left with hardly a choice and had to approach IMF to beef up the dwindling Foreign Exchange Reserves as well as fulfill national obligations.
The minister said he was grateful to the IMF for understanding Pakistan’s difficult economic situation and avoiding making unreasonable demands.
He reiterated that the commitments made by the government with the IMF would be met as they are in the interest of Pakistan and its economic future. He pointed out that Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s have given a positive outlook on Pakistan after a long time and the Overseas International Chambers of Commerce, which conducts regular surveys on business confidence, has raised its index for Pakistan from a negative of 34 to a positive of 2.
He said, “The IMF programme not only has stabilised our external account, but it has also re-established the confidence of other international donor agencies and international banks for development partnerships with Pakistan as an IMF member state.”
The international financial institutions and banks, which were hesitant to do business with Pakistan, have responded positively and are now approaching the government for doing business which had halted for the last 3 years. The Islamic Development Bank has already agreed to a loan of 750 million Euros and a trade facility of $150 million. The first tranche of Euro 100 million of the facility of IDB was received on 15th August 2013 and an amount of $544 of IMF was received on September 6. Dar said the WB and the Asian Development Bank have agreed to recommence their support to Pakistan after a lapse of three years.
He said the outcomes of the reforms have been encouraging and during the month of July and August, FBR collected taxes to the tune of Rs 280 billion, which is 20 percent higher than the amount collected over the same period last year.
About the state-owned enterprises, he said professional managers are being appointed through a competitive and transparent process of recruitment.
An independent federal commission has been formed to ensure transparent selection and full financial restructuring will be carried out to enable them to run on sound commercial basis.
No understanding with IMF on devaluation of rupee: Dar
