Newly appointed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that he intends to start enduring macroeconomic constancy in Pakistan, which is dignified to transition into maintainable growth amid Pakistan’s fiscal challenges.
– Aurangzeb, Finance Minister, Targets Sustainable Macroeconomic Stability
– Finance Minister Aurangzeb’s Objective: Ensuring Long-Term Macroeconomic Stability
– Pursuing Long-Term Macroeconomic Stability: Finance Minister Aurangzeb’s Goal
– Finance Minister Aurangzeb’s Aim: Establishing Stable Macroeconomic Conditions
– Finance Minister Aurangzeb Sets Sights on Achieving Lasting Macroeconomic Stability
“The first quarter of 2024 is better than the first quarter of 2023. Gross domestic product (GDP) is better, there is macroeconomic constancy, and the exchange rate is also steady. We will now have to make this macro stability permanent,” Aurangzeb told Bol News’ media person.
The debt-ridden economy, which shriveled 0.2% last year and is predictable to raise around 2% this year, has been under dangerous stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23%, policy interest rates at 22%, and record local currency devaluation.
Muhammad Aurangzeb, an expert banker who has served at Pakistan’s largest commercial banks, took the oath as finance minister on 11th March 2024, and faces a difficult task to stabilize Pakistan’s economy.
In the interview, the newly-appointed FM Muhammad Aurangzeb, said he would decrease the escapes in revenue and cut spending in the PSDP through a public-private partnership.
For increasing revenue, he said consecutive governments so far haven’t tapped China’s bond market, hoping that Pakistan would enter it in the ongoing year.
Ahead of the 2nd and final review of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $3 billion Standby Agreement (SBA), he said that Pakistan is in a good position in terms of satisfying nuts and bolts.
The Fund will hold the 2nd review of the SBA this week, the finance ministry and the IMF said earlier in the day, during which the government will also ask for a new longer-term bailout.
The four-day review starts on Thursday, and if successful, the IMF will release a final tranche of around $1.1 billion secured by Islamabad under a last-gasp rescue package last summer to avoid an autonomous debt default.
“Pakistan has met all structural standards, qualitative performance criteria, and revealing targets for successful completion of the IMF review,” the ministry added, hoping for a successful IMF staff level agreement after the assessment.
In talk with reporters a day earlier, the finance minister said Tuesday that Pakistan would seek a “large and long programme” from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).