Islamabad (Online): With the ending of Twelve and Final Review, Pakistan and the IMF has successfully completed negotiations under the 3-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for an amount of $6.4 billion.
“Pakistan will get the last tranche of $102 million under this program after the approval of IMF Board”
Pakistan and IMF Officials concluded their week long Final review negotiating in Dubai on Thursday, after the meeting while talking to media; Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan economic performance remained satisfactory during this period.
We achieved the target of cash transfers through Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and on power sector arrears but narrowly missed the target of budget deficit and net domestic Assets during end-June 2016.
“FBR not only achieved its annual target of Rs.3104 billion but exceeded it. This indeed is a remarkable achievement as no downward revision was made in FBR revenue targets and the originally fixed target was achieved and exceeded which is an unprecedented accomplishment and speaks of the success of the economic policies being followed by the present Government” He added.
He further said that Successful completion of the last Review is indicative of government’s strong commitment in implementing difficult structural reforms in the areas of taxation, energy, monetary/financial sectors and public sector enterprises.
IMF Mission Chief, Harald Finger said on this occasion said that GDP of Pakistan likely to mount to 5 percent.
According to statement issued by Finance Ministry that Pakistan real GDP growth rate remained 4.71 percent during the Fiscal Year 2016, which is the highest in the last 8 years. For current fiscal year, Government has set GDP growth targeted at 5.7 percent which will gradually steer to 7 percent in FY 2017.
The industrial sector recorded a growth of 6.8 percent during FY 2016 which is the highest in the last eight years. LSM growth remained robust at 4.61 percent during FY 2016 compared to 3.29 percent last fiscal year. Automobiles registered growth at 23.4 percent followed by Fertilizers 16 percent, Rubber products 11.6 percent, Leather products 12.2 percent, and Chemicals 10 percent, Cement 10.4 percent and its dispatches witnessed uptick by over 17 percent; and there has been a continued credit expansion.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has scaled new height of 39,800 indexes on 01st August, 2016 crossing the highest index achieved previously in August, 2015 indicating robust economic activity and reflecting investor confidence.
Inflation remained contained to less than 3 percent at 2.89 percent during the period FY 2016 as compared to 8.62 percent in FY 2014 and 4.53 percent in FY 2015.
The foreign exchange reserves increased to $23 billion as of 22nd July 2016 of which SBP reserves stood at $18.037 billion and that of scheduled banks at $4.960 billion.
The budget deficit which stood at over 8 percent of GDP in FY 2013 was brought down to 5.3 percent in FY 2015 and to 4.6 percent in FY 2016. We are also committed to reduce public debt, and lay the foundations for a more sustained growth.
Despite the fact that the government is reducing its fiscal deficit, allocation for Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) has more than doubled and social safety net expenditures have increased by over 300 percent through the four budgets of the current government.
The Energy sector reforms are on priority agenda of the Government and are regularly monitored by the Prime Minister through the Cabinet Committee on Energy.
To implement the reforms: We are working to reduce energy shortages with special emphasis to ensure sustained supply to industry with the goal of adding over 10,000 MW of electricity to the system by March 2018 along with measures to make the sector self-sustainable in line with the demands of a modern power sector;
For improving business climate, we have finalized and put into implementation a new countrywide ease of doing business reform strategy with time bound measures to strengthen business climate and foster private investments.
