KARACHI: Finance Minister Asad Umar on Saturday spoke about Pakistan approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and said this will be the last time the country seeks a bailout from the lender.
“This will be the last IMF programme,” the finance minister assured while addressing an event at Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The finance minister clarified, “The media is portraying the country’s economy as collapsing but that is not the case. No alarm bells are ringing.”
However, Umar said, “This year there is a financing gap of $12 billion.”
“In the next seven to eight months, the US dollar will see a decrease of 26% to 27% against the Pakistani rupee,” he said while adding that “matters are coming under control”.
“The current account deficit, which earlier rose from $2.5 billion to $18 billion, has started to decrease,” the finance minister added.
Umar further announced that measures were being taken to improve the stock exchange and said, “There is astounding growth in the stock market and efforts should continue for better results.”
“Doing business in Pakistan has become very expensive,” he said while adding that “the environment for investment and business needs to be improved”. He added, “We will also work on improving the capital market.”
Stating that investment is low in the country owing to taxation and that “needs to be fixed”, the finance minister continued, “The market needs to be regulated but not over-regulated.”
The finance minister added, “Ups and downs are common in businesses.”
Asserting that one should spend within their limits, Umar said, “I have to save 21 million Pakistanis.”
