In light of the country’s losses and the tragedy brought on by climate change, federal minister of finance and revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has appealed for increased policy support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and multilateral donors.
The minister was speaking in front of the IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at a gathering of MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors in Washington, DC.
He encouraged the IMF to take into account the substantial economic, social, and political issues that those nations were confronting in the context of climate-related disasters in order to adjust its response to the situation in Pakistan and similar countries.
He emphasised the country’s losses and the humanitarian tragedy. He begged for increased governmental support for Pakistan given the severity of the calamity. He praised the Rapid Financing Instrument’s (RFI) Food Shock Window and Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) new tools for supporting nations.
According to a press release we got on Sunday, he also expressed gratitude to the IMF managing director for her thoughts and promised to finish the Fund programme in spite of obstacles.
The IMF managing director underlined issues that regional economies face, especially those caused by climate change events, by bringing up the devastating floods in Pakistan. She sent her sincere condolences to Pakistan and guaranteed the Fund’s unwavering support.
On the sidelines of the IMF-WB annual meetings, the minister and governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Jameel Ahmed, met with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands to discuss financial inclusion and banking on equality.
The two parties reaffirmed their commitment to cooperating to forward the topics under discussion quickly.
Dar also spoke with Marwan Abdullah Yusuf Thunayan Al-Ghanem, director general of the Kuwait Fund. The minister spoke about current projects and possible new investment areas while praising Kuwait Fund’s commitment to Pakistan’s economic growth.
The minister met with Masatsugu Asakawa, the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and expressed gratitude for the support Pakistan has received throughout the years as well as for the recent post-flood promises.
The ADB president gave the finance minister assurances that the $1.5 billion BRACE initiative had been approved and that Pakistan will continue to receive funding. The minister also met with Khaled Al-Mabrouk, his counterpart in Libya, and the two dignitaries spoke about matters of common concern.
The minister recognised the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) contribution to the development of Pakistan’s private sector during his meeting with IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop.
He also talked about how the IFC may be more involved in Pakistan, particularly with regard to trade finance. He promised all the assistance the IFC would need in that area.
The finance minister received reassurance from Makhtar Diop that IFC would continue to support Pakistan. It is important to note that Dar is leading Pakistan’s delegation to the Washington, DC-based annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in 2022.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha, the Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Jameel Ahmed, the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, Dr. Kazim Niaz, the Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division, and Ali Tahir, the Additional Secretary, Finance Division are among the other delegates.
