Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Monday that Pakistan doesn\u2019t need too many policy prescriptions, it just needs to implement those policies. Speaking at the Atlantic Council think tank on his first working day in Washington, the minister also urged institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help countries like Pakistan deal with the effects of climate change and achieve financial inclusivity. The minister, who is in the US to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank group and discuss a new loan package with the IMF, stressed the need for promoting financial inclusiveness and climate resilience when asked to comment on the ongoing debate about reforming the two financial institutions. The minister pointed out that Pakistan was not a major emitter, yet it was among the major victims of climate change. The country also needed financial inclusion to enhance the position of women in the national economy, he noted. On his first day in Washington, finance minister seeks help with tackling climate change fallout Mr Aurangzeb made it clear in the very beginning that during his almost week-long stay in Washington, he would seek a new programme from the IMF. Responding to another question, he said Pakistan was looking for a larger and longer program from the IMF because \u201cwe need two to three years for structural reforms.\u201d He said he would like to conclude the formalities and get a new Extended Fund Facility (EFF) package from the IMF \u201cas soon as we can, but these are just preliminary discussions\u201d. He said that during his negotiations with the Fund\u2019s team in Islamabad, he learned that the IMF believed Pakistan had the capability, but it needed to carry out the reforms it pledged. \u201cThe PM is quite keen and vocal on the need for a new programme,\u201d he added. If the this week\u2019s discussions are fruitful, Pakistan anticipates an IMF mission visiting Islamabad next month for further talks on the loan. Additionally, the delegation plans to negotiate increased financing with the World Bank. Pakistan is also eagerly anticipating the release of $1.1bn under the current Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) expiring this month. Talking about the need to expand the tax base and reform the system of tax collection, the minister said the reforms would not only increase the revenue but also bring transparency and improve the client experience. He also emphasized the need to encourage public-private partnership, pointing out that the government couldn\u2019t do everything. Pakistan, he said, needed \u201ctimely decisions, timely execution\u201d to build its economy as \u201cno strategy works without execution.\u201d Asked how Pakistan could successfully rebuild its economy, the minister said: \u201cWe do not need too many policy prescriptions. We know what to do \u2026 it\u2019s time for us to start moving\u201d. Business council Earlier, the finance minister commenced his official engagements by meeting a delegation from the US-Pakistan Business Council. During the meeting, the minister highlighted the government\u2019s dedication to attracting both foreign and domestic investments in key sectors, a press statement said. These sectors include agriculture, IT, mines & minerals, and energy. He also met Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives and the current head of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. \u201cHe highlighted Pakistan\u2019s vulnerability to climate change, the role played by the country in the establishment of Loss and Damages Fund and the way forward to address climate challenges in vulnerable countries,\u201d said a statement issued by Mr Aurangzeb\u2019s team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Monday that Pakistan doesn\u2019t need too many policy prescriptions, it just needs to implement those policies. Speaking at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16211,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}