ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Thursday that Pakistan was “very close ” to signing the staff-level agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The finance minister admitted that it has taken Pakistan more time than expected to complete the ninth review of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) but assured that the South Asian economy was “very close ” to signing the staff-level agreement (SLA).
“We seem to be very close to signing the staff-level agreement hopefully in the next few days,” Dar said while addressing a seminar in Islamabad titled “Reviving Economic Stability through the Strengthening of Public Financial Management”.
“I think we owe this to the nation that we show seriousness, deliver, and demonstrate to the world that we can honour the sovereign commitments irrespective of whoever made those,” said Dar. He also assured that his team was “absolutely committed” to completing the IMF programme to the “best” of their ability.
Criticizing the former government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dar shared data about the situation of the economy when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) left government in 2018.
The minister said that it pained him to see the country’s economy fall to the 47th rank in 2022 after it was predicted that Pakistan would join G20 by the end of 2030.
He also highlighted that the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) market capitalization was over $100 billion but dropped to $26 billion in the last few years.
“Another serious issue that we should be pondering is Pakistan’s debt sustainability,” said Dar. He added that it was under $30 trillion in 2018 but has now climbed to $55 trillion in 2022. “As a consequence, this country whose debt servicing was less than $2 trillion per annum in the fiscal year 2016-17, has risen to over $5 trillion,” said Dar.
“I think in the last few years, we should see what mistakes we have made on the economic front, and we should try to correct those as soon as possible,” the finance minister added.
IMF deal not to be signed this week
Later, to a question by a journalist, the finance minister said the agreement with IMF would not be finalized this week, adding that the fund was “satisfied” with the measures taken by Pakistan.
When pressed that he had assured of striking the SLA by this week, Dar responded: “I said a few days, not this week.”
