LAHORE: Senior Vice President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry has urged the government to take measures for the continuation of IMF Programme as the 9th review of IMF will end on June 30th.

In a statement, Senior Vice President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry said that the economy of Pakistan would need $20 to 25 billion within next two years for stability.

He said that in view of the current economic conditions, an agreement with the IMF is inevitable because only after the agreement with the IMF, the arrival of frozen external financing for Pakistan at the international level is possible.

Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry said that due to the current economic conditions of Pakistan, the country has no option other than the IMF because other international financial institutions and developed countries have linked the funding for Pakistan to the IMF programme.

He said that the delay in the agreement with the IMF will create a situation of uncertainty due to which there will be negative effects in the financial market. At the same time, it is feared that there will be negative effects on the value of the rupee while the stock market will also be affected.

The LCCI Senior Vice President said that due to the uncertainty in the financial market and the fall in the value of the rupee, the production cost of the industries will increase and will also put pressure on the foreign exchange reserves.

He said that the government should immediately remove the obstacles in the way of agreement with the IMF and persuade the IMF to continue the programme. If the agreement continues to be delayed, many other problems will arise for Pakistan, including depreciation of the rupee, increase in markup and inflation, which are not in the interest of the country in any way.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023