WASHINGTON: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has revealed that after surge in foreign exchange reserves to $17.67 billion, Pakistan has become the 18th largest economy.
The minister, while talking to the US-based journalists, said that the foreign reserves would touch another historic high level this year.
The finance minister was speaking at the end of a hectic three-day visit to Washington, during which he had around three dozen meetings, including with the IMF and World Bank leaders and top US Treasury, State Department, USAID, OPIC, US-Pakistan Business Council officials and investors. He was accompanied by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani and Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan. Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana M Afzal, Governor State Bank Ashraf Mahmood Wathra and Secretary Revenue were also part of the high-level Pakistani delegation that attended the Spring 2015 IMF-World Bank meetings.
Dar revealed that the seventh review of Pakistan’s economic performance under the IMF programme would take place from May 1 to 9 in Dubai. He cited a series of macroeconomic indicators, including the GDP growth, low inflation, successful return of the country to the international bond Sukuk and equity markets which, together with an unprecedented completion of six levels of homegrown reforms with the IMF, have tremendously enhanced world financial institutions’ confidence in Pakistan’s economic prospects.
The minister said that the Operation Zarb-e-Azb will cost $1.75 billion while the country required $800 million for the repatriation of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs). He said the government intended to privatise 35 entities and will pay loans through the privatisation of HBL.
He said the shares of distribution companies will be sold in the next phase. He said remittances were likely to increase by 15 percent this year. Regarding the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan, Senator Dar said the two countries would benefit enormously from the economic cooperation, which will see Beijing investing billions of dollars in infrastructure projects with the involvement of private sector. He said the motorway project would connect Peshawar with Karachi.
