Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb shared progress on economic reforms in a meeting with World Bank Group President Ajay Bang on Tuesday.
According to a Finance Ministry statement, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who is visiting Washington to attend the spring meetings organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, has visited the IMF for 9 months. He highlighted Pakistan’s progress in ongoing reforms in the priority sectors of taxation, energy and privatization under the stand-by arrangement.
The finance minister said that Pakistan and the IMF are negotiating a new multi-billion dollar program.
“Both sides agreed on the need for an ongoing framework plan for the country for 10 years,” the statement added.
The $3 billion continuing standby program was signed last summer and expires this month.
Pakistan is expected to receive the final installment of $1.1 billion by the end of April.
Islamabad also began negotiating a new multibillion-dollar loan with the global lender to support its economic reform agenda.
Meanwhile, the World Bank President has assured his full support for Pakistan’s reforms and digitization program to stabilize the economy and increase revenue.
In addition, the finance minister also invited the president of the World Bank to visit Pakistan.
Mohammad Aurangzeb also met Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Esaw separately on Tuesday.
A statement issued after the meeting said that “Discussions focused on strengthening Pakistan’s partnership with the Asian Development Bank, securing concessional financing for the country’s projects and planning for future projects.”
“During the meeting, they discussed ways to expand DFC’s investment in Pakistan after amicably resolving outstanding issues,” the statement added.
According to a statement, the finance minister said the government is supporting innovative financing models to tap the potential of private sector investment and public-private partnership (PPP).
Mohammad Aurangzeb assured that the government is committed to provide all possible support to the investment initiatives of any local or foreign investor in Pakistan.
