F.P. Report
WASHINGTON: In a meeting with International Monetary Fund’s, Deputy Managing Director Ms. Antoinette M. Sayeh, Minister for Planning and Development Mr. Ahsan Iqbal appreciating the recent Staff Level Agreement between the IMF and GoP, underscored Pakistan’s continued commitment to the Programme.
He apprised on the difficult economic and fiscal decisions taken by the government because the government’s priority was economic stability of Pakistan’s economy leading to socio-economic development of the people of Pakistan.
He expressed the hope that IMF’s Board would give early approval to the Staff Agreement.
Ms. Sayeh congratulated the government for successful conclusion of the Staff Agreement and assured that IMF would continue to play its role to assist stabilizing Pakistan’s economy.
Minister Asan Iqbal highlighted that Pakistan has a robust agricultural sector and related economic sectors. He stressed that despite Pakistan having a very low carbon footprint, was one of the most vulnerable country due to climate change.
He sought IMF’s assistance to the country’s agriculture sector, especially to mitigate the impact of climate change. He also suggested that IMF may consider assisting countries to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals because economies of many countries have been affected due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Ms. Sayeh said that this had created difficulties and IMF was trying to assess how it could assist member countries.
Minister Asan Iqbal requested that IMF may consider extending training to public officials from provinces of Pakistan for capacity building in matters related to public finance, because such important areas had been devolved to the provinces after the 18th Constitutional Amendment. Ms. Sayeh assured that the Fund would look into this proposal.
The meeting was held at IMF HQs. Ambassador Masood Khan; Hossein Mirshojaeian Hosseini, Executive Director (MENA Region); Saeed Ahmad, Senior Advisor; Nathan Porter, Pakistan Mission Chief and; Qasim Mohiuddin, Counsellor/Acting Minister (Economic) joined the meeting.
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