Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The ministry of finance on Sunday, rejecting the news regarding failure of talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said there was not any deadlock with the IMF.
Finance ministry spokesman Muzammil Aslam, in a statement, said that there was not truth in news about the deadlock, adding that the talks would resume from Monday (today) and would continue uninterrupted as per schedule. Aslam said the date for ending talks was not fixed and the negotiation would continue till success of the talks.
He said Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin and Governor State Bank of Pakistan Reza Baqir were attending meetings in New York while the Secretary Finance and his team were engaged for talks in Washington DC as per schedule.
The clarification from Finance Ministry comes after some media outlets have
reported that Pakistan and the IMF have again failed to reach a staff-level agreement at the scheduled time because of differences over the macroeconomic framework and deepening uncertainty over the future roadmap of the economy. The false reports claimed that the fresh round of talks from October 4 to 15 for the release of the $1 billion loan tranche and receiving a good economic health certificate remained inconclusive.
The talks failed despite Pakistan having implemented a prior condition of increasing electricity and petroleum products prices. However, both sides have shown resolve to remain engaged, rumors added.
