Govt constantly engaged with IMF on 9th review: Aisha

The government is “definitely, constantly and continuously” engaged with the International Monetary Fund on the latest budget, the junior finance minister said on Tuesday, stressing that there was no reason for disappointment that the ninth review of an ongoing bailout package shouldn’t be completed. “We are constantly in touch with the IMF,” Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha told journalists after a Senate committee meeting. She said the global lending agency had already held meetings with the Federal Board of Revenue and the State Bank of Pakistan. Besides, the Fund was also in constant touch with the Ministry of Finance on budget details, seeking data, asking questions and trying to have clarity on everything. Dr Pasha said the two sides — the IMF and the ministry — also had sessions over the past two days. “So, we are definitely and continuously engaged,” she said, adding that as long as the engagements were continuing, why one should say the matter had ended. Asked if negotiations with bilateral partners had begun on debt restructuring, she said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said with clarity that Pakistan could consider that option, but it was not thinking of going to the Paris Club