Pakistan initiates discussions with IMF for a new multi-billion-dollar loan agreement

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that Pakistan has initiated discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a new multi-billion-dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform program.

According to the details, the Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb made these remarks during an interview with a foreign news agency. He said the United States is the largest trading partner of Pakistan and it has always supported us in terms of investment. It will always be a very critical relationship for Pakistan.

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The Finance Minister further stated that Pakistan has initiated discussions with the IMF over a new multi-billion-dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform program. He said that the market confidence and the market sentiment in Pakistan are in much better shape during the current fiscal year. We have initiated the discussion with the Fund to get into a larger and extended program.

Muhammad Aurangzeb next discussed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), pointing out that it was a major source of investment, particularly in infrastructure. He claimed that Pakistan has a great chance to increase trade with nations like Vietnam. We already have a few instances of that in action, he claimed. However, we must increase the scale of the transaction.

Regarding the State Owned Enterprises privatization program, the Minister stated that information regarding potential bidders’ interests, namely about the national airline, will be available to us within the next month. He expressed his wish to proceed with the privatization and see it through to completion by the end of June. He was optimistic that more businesses would soon follow suit if the government’s privatization of the PIA proceeds smoothly.