- The financial Czar says that the government made reforms in key areas to stimulate the economy.
- Said that the recent steps have helped stabilize the economy, more efforts in progress.
- Aurangzeb holds talks with the finance ministers in several countries.
The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said on Saturday that Pakistan had asked China to increase its currency exchange line by 10 billion yuan ($ 1.4 billion), while the country pushes for good reforms and hopes to close the international chapter of the monetary fund (IMF).
“The Government introduces reforms in fields such as the right of the public sector and the revision of the pension system,” said Aurangzeb, addressing a press conference after its week-long trip to the United States to participate in Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank (WB).
The TSAR Financière expressed the hope that the current Pakistan program with the IMF would be its last, signaling the government’s intention to progress towards economic self-execution.
“Government’s recent stages have contributed to stabilizing the economy and that efforts are underway to increase private sector participation in various sectors,” said the Minister of Finance.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Reuters on the sidelines of Washington meetings, Aurangzeb said: “Pakistan has put a request to China to increase its existing 10 billion Yuan exchange line ($ 1.4 billion), adding that it expected the country to launch a panda deposit before the end of the year.”
“Pakistan already has an exchange line of 30 billion existing yuan,” said the Minister of Finance, adding: “From our point of view, reaching 40 billion in Renminbi would be a good place to go to … We have just submitted this request.”
The Chinese central bank has favored currency exchange lines with a series of emerging savings, including Argentina and Sri Lanka.
Pakistan has also made progress in the emission of its first panda obligation, a debt issued on the Chinese interior bond market, labeled in Yuan.
Discussions with the presidents of the Asian Investment Bank in infrastructure (AIIB) and the Asian Development Bank (BAD) – both lenders who are online to provide credit improvements for the problem – had been constructive, he said.
“We want to diversify our loan base and we have made good progress around that-we hope that during this calendar year, we can make an initial impression,” he said.
Meanwhile, Aurangzeb expected that the IMF executive council is preparing at the beginning of May according to the staff level agreement on its new $ 1.3 billion agreement as part of a climate resilience loan program, as well as the first examination of the rescue program of 7 billion dollars in progress.
Obtaining the green light from the IMF board of directors would trigger a billion dollars as part of the program, which the country obtained in 2024 and played a key role in the stabilization of the economy of Pakistan.
Asked about the economic benefits of tensions with India after the murder of 26 men on a tourist site earlier this month, Aurangzeb said that it “was not going to be useful”.
The trade flows between the two countries had already fallen sudden following past frictions and only totaled $ 1.2 billion last year.