Tentative date for talks with IMF finalised

Ministry of Finance has reportedly finalised tentative date of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from July 20-27 for formal review of the economy under the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA), it was learnt. Sources said that the high ups of Finance Ministry wanted to complete the negotiations with the IMF before Ramazan.
However, the tentative date of talks with the IMF may be extended for couple of days because of the resignation of Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Shahid H. Kardar as he played pivotal role during the negotiations. Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is said to have met Governor SBP immediately after reaching Islamabad from Quetta on Wednesday night probably to persuade him to reconsider the decision of quitting. An official on condition of anonymity said that Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh reportedly held one-on-one meeting with the President Asif Ali Zardari on the issue of Governor SBP resignation here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a meeting to finalise the budget figures was also held between the Finance Ministry and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which is in the process of reconciling revenue figures. It is expected that the FBR will finalise the reconciled revenue figures in next couple of days, which would determine the fiscal deficit for the last fiscal year.
An official said that achieving 5.3 per cent fiscal deficit target agreed with the Fund for 2010-2011 would be determined after compilation of final figures. The review mission of the IMF would analyse the figures. The government is reported to have also received $200 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the second generation reform project for SECP which would strengthen its ability to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 5.3 per cent. An official also claimed that the government was able to bring borrowing from SBP to zero at the end of the fourth quarter (April-June) to meet another key condition of the IMF under SBA.