Nothing stands in way of IMF agreement: PM

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that there is nothing left that can stand in the way of the International Monetary Fund agreement as they have accepted all the global lender’s conditions and implemented them.

Addressing a federal cabinet meeting, Premier Shehbaz said the budget needs to satisfy the IMF to secure the release of more bailout money for the crisis-struck country, which is due to hold a general election by November.

"The ninth review will be completed soon," Shehbaz said.

He maintained that for the last 14 months since his government came to power, the main challenge was to deal with the IMF because the previous government had scattered the fragments of the agreement, the post-flood situation and global inflation.

He said that all the conditions of the IMF had been accepted and fully implemented, but the staff-level agreement had not yet been signed. “The matter will then go to the board. After all the conditions are fulfilled, the ninth review of the IMF will be completed this month and its approval will be taken from the board.”

Shehbaz said that he had spoken to Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, for an hour on the phone. “I asked her that if she gives me verbal assurance, I can take further steps depending on it. Two more steps were taken and the agreement was assured if I met the IMF's further conditions.”

Referring to the devastating floods triggered by climate change, he said that the country’s economy suffered losses worth over $30 billion. He added that the Ukraine crisis also pushed up the prices of commodities in the international market.

"A country’s sound economic growth is linked with its political stability," he said, adding that without it, even billions of rupees budget could not make a difference in improving the economic situation.

The government, he said, was cognisant of the problems being faced by the common man due to inflation. "We have to take care of the salaried class as well as the pensioners so that they can meet their basic requirements."

The PM also expressed satisfaction that the current deficit in 10 months was reduced to $3.3 billion, hoping that the agriculture sector would boost.

He said it was a matter of satisfaction that the country had managed to bring down the current account deficit to $3.3 billion regardless of internal and external challenges.

The government has spun into action to put brakes on the "undesirable" outflow of foreign currency from Pakistan and promote transparency in foreign currency transactions conducted by exchange companies.

(With input from app)