Dubai talks with IMF focus economy, budget

The Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) is holding talks with the Pakistani officials on the recent economic developments and the upcoming budget. Caroline Atkinson, Director of IMF External Relations said while addressing a video conference in Washington that an IMF mission is currently holding talks with Pakistan in Dubai on recent economic developments and steps taken by the government of Pakistan especially about the budget (2011-12).
Pakistan while requesting for the extension in 23-month long Stand By Arrangement (SBA) in its Letter of Intent dated December 17, 2010 claimed that: "We hereby request that the SBA be extended for a further nine months, to enable us to implement the policy measures envisaged under our reform programme, and to allow sufficient time to complete the remaining fifth and sixth reviews under the SBA.
In pursuit of our programme objectives, we have submitted to the National Assembly the federal part of the legislative package for the Reformed General Sales Tax and the provincial part of the package will be submitted to the provincial assemblies shortly. We have also made progress in devising a plan to ensure financial viability of the electricity sector, which together with the package of other measures will enable us to achieve the budget deficit target of 4.7 percent of GDP, revised from the original target of 4.0 percent of GDP to accommodate additional flood-related spending."
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already said in its report titled ''IMF Regional Economic Outlook: Strong Recovery in the Caucasus and Central Asia to Continue in 2011'' that the total government gross debt of Pakistan may reach 54.1 percent of the overall GDP growth in the year 2011 while the consumer price inflation is projected to increase from 11.7 percent in 2010 to 15.5 percent in the current calendar year.