Minister for Finance Asad Umar says government has decided to initiate negotiations with International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the recovery and stabilization of national economy.
In a video message, the Minister said that everyone is aware of the difficult economic conditions left by the previous government that is why Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government has decided to take the country out of the crisis.
He said the Government inherited 6.6% of fiscal deficit, more than a trillion Rupees of unaccounted for losses in the energy sector and an unprecedented and debilitating current account deficit running at 2 billion dollars a month.
The Minister said to correct the underlying imbalances, fiscal and monetary actions needed to be undertaken without delay.
He said the Finance supplementary (Amendment) Act, 2018 and the policy rate increase by the State Bank are actions taken to stabilize the macroeconomic situation.
In addition, regulatory duties on non-essential imports have had to be introduced to curb the unnecessary growth in imports.
Asad Umar said after taking into account the current situation and consultation with the leading economists, the government has decided to approach the IMF for an economic recovery program.
He said the government wants to protect interests of lower income segments of the society and aims to put a “minimum impact” on the low-income classes while passing on the burden to wealthy citizens.