Progress made on financing pledges from friendly countries, Senate panel told

The government on Wednesday said to have achieved ‘progress’ in external financing from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates direly needed to reach a staff-level agreement (SLA) with International Monetary Fund (IMF) that has been in limbo since Feb 9. The statement came from Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha before a parliamentary panel on a day UAE’s ambassador in Islamabad Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salim Al-Zaabi met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and expressed UAE’s interest “in augmenting and furthering investment in various sectors of the economy of Pakistan”. Simultaneously, the foreign exchange association of Pakistan said billions of dollars could be diverted to the system provided unnecessary controls and documentation were eased and unofficial outflows to Afghanistan were contained. Testifying before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and later talking to journalists, Dr Pasha said “there has been some progress from Saudi Arabia and UAE on external financing” — the only pending thing after the completion of technical negotiations.