Dar to attend annual meetings of WB, IMF in Washington next month
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will lead the Pakistan delegation at the meetings.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will lead the Pakistan delegation at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in Washington DC on 7-9 October 2016, the Ministry of Finance reported.
“It is an honour to participate in 2016 Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for excellent arrangements," Dar said.
GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated that everyone is well aware that growth prospects remain weak on global level as the world economy remains vulnerable to shocks. Global economy slowed down in 2015, growing at just 2.4 percent compared with 2.6 percent in 2014. Weak oil and commodity prices, shrinking capital flows and global trade contributed towards a decelerated growth in most developed and emerging economies. Risks to slow-moving global recovery are significant and include deteriorating conditions for exports, weak economic activity in advanced economies, rising private sector debt in a few large emerging markets and heightened geopolitical uncertainties.
PAKISTAN ECONOMY
Dar said that after achieving macroeconomic stability in the last three years through reducing energy shortages, higher revenue collection, wider tax base, significant reduction in fiscal deficit and infrastructure development, the government is now focused on consolidating the gains and achieving higher, inclusive and sustainable growth which has been over 4 percent for three years in a row and reached 4.71 percent in financial year 2016, the highest in last eight years. The forex reserves of the country have improved equal to over 5 months of imports.
POVERTY REDUCTION
Earlier this year, Government of Pakistan adopted a new and better methodology for measuring poverty, moving from “Food Energy Intake” to “Cost of Basic Needs” formula, which raised the bar on who is considered poor in Pakistan.
According to the new methodology, the poverty headcount percentage declined from 64.3 percent in FY 2002 to 29.5 percent in FY 2014. If measured on the old methodology, the poverty headcount in FY 2014 would have been 9.31 percent.
Despite tight fiscal discipline, government has expanded the social safety net expenditure from US$ 400 million in FY 2013 to US$ 1.15 billion in FY 2017. Efforts are continuing for National Financial and Digital Inclusion in order to cater the unserved and underserved segments of society.
"We are aligning our development policies, both at the national and sub-national levels, with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Human development is a core driver of growth and we continue to invest in all its facets.
Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management, Climate change, resulting in increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, is a constant challenge for Pakistan. We have mainstreamed disaster risk management into our development policy framework and are developing strong institutional capacity and resilience so that the economic losses of natural disasters are contained. We are closely working with World Bank Group and other development partners in this regard," the Finance Minister added.
