ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb will meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Kristalina Georgieva in Washington next week, but relations with US officials may still be on the low side.
Sources told The Express Tribune that Aurangzeb was to meet US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Donald Lu, the fourth-ranking US administration official. The minister may also meet the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, the third-ranking official in the US administration.
A Pakistani delegation consisting of Finance Minister Aurangzeb, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jamel Ahmad, Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal and Economic Affairs Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz will visit Washington to attend the World Bank-HPG Spring Meeting from April 13 to 21. .
Pakistan’s external financing requirements for the next fiscal year will exceed $25 billion, which it plans to bridge with the help of all multilateral and some bilateral lenders.
Pakistan decided to use the spring meeting as an opportunity to formally request the HPG to send a mission to Pakistan to begin negotiations on the Medium-Term Enhanced Facility (EFF).
The mission is expected to reach Pakistan after the program ends this month.
However, days before he went to Washington to request a bigger and longer-term bailout package from HPG, he authorized a four-month honorarium for all the prime minister’s staff. This move is against the backdrop of Pakistan’s financial woes.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the finance minister have lost the moral high ground to appeal to the public to stay on the IMF program soon, with temporary respect for highly paid bureaucrats.
The US controls the administration of HPG. US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome recently highlighted the US government’s role in the Pak-HPG program.
