IMF says focus on economic reforms rather than size of loan

The Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Middle East and Central Asia has said that Pakistan must focus more on the implementation of structural reforms instead of a loan.

“I think what is important at this stage is to accelerate the reforms, double down on the structure of reforms in order to provide Pakistan with its full potential of growth,” Jihad Azour told a press conference on the sidelines of the IMF 2024 Spring Meetings.

The statement comes as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who is currently in Washington DC, to finalise yet another bailout package that the country is seeking from IMF.

Pakistan is nearing the end of a nine-month, $3-billion SBA with the IMF designed to tackle a balance-of-payments crisis, which brought it to the brink of default last summer.

The Finance Minister in a recent interview, had mentioned that Pakistan would need two to three years of to implement the structural reforms.