WASHINGTON: Michael Kaplan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of US Treasury Department appreciated the performance of Pakistan's economy during the past three years due to structural reforms carried out by the government.
Heading the US Treasury team during a delegation level talks with Pakistani officials led by Finance Secretary Dr. Waqar Masood, the US official commended the government on continuing the structural reforms and expressed the hope that the government will continue to exercise fiscal discipline after the completion of the IMF programme.
The Finance Secretary briefed US side about the 10th review of IMF programme which was cleared by IMF Board without a waiver. He gave an overview of macroeconomic indicators with special mention of the improved revenue collection which has helped the government in bringing fiscal deficit down to 4.3 percent from 8.2 percent in 2013.
Dr. Masood informed the US side that the government was committed to continue with reform process and keep check on fiscal deficit without compromising on the development expenditure.
He observed that due to improved investment climate the Foreign Direct Investment has gone up by 15 percent and while large scale manufacturing is showing a growth of 4.2 percent which is highest in last 5 years.
The Governor SBP apprised the Treasury team that the inflation is under 5 percent while interest rates are at 6 percent and both the indicators are lowest in last ten years. Due to improved investment climate the private sector lending had gone up by over 100 percent over last year, he added.
The governor State Bank also told the US delegation that with $21 billion of foreign exchange reserves SBP is prepared to meet the increased demand from private sector for capital investment.
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