January 19, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1423

ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: Head of the four-member visiting IMF mission George T. Abed has said that homegrown, indigenous, prudent and sound economic policies and reform agenda pursued by the government of Pakistan since last three years have enabled the country to achieve macroeconomic stability.

During his meeting with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Aziz here on Saturday, Abed also said that a stage has been set for higher growth rate to alleviate poverty.

According to an official announcement, Abed who is Director Middle Eastern Department said that he was pleased to note success as a result of reforms introduced by the government of Pakistan, which have been widely acclaimed by the international financial institutions, donor countries and international credit rating agencies.

“It was a matter of satisfaction that government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali was committed to follow path of reforms, maintain fiscal discipline to even further consolidate these economic gains into a higher economic growth”.

He noted that economic team navigated these reforms in a manner which resulted in high foreign exchange reserves, stable exchange rate, low inflation, fiscal discipline, prudent monitoring policies, increased growth in exports and private sector driven economy.

He appreciated prudence in government expenditure and attributed its success to good governance and structural reforms. He said that IMF was happy to be a partner in Pakistan’s development and noted with satisfaction scrupulous commitment to home-grown reforms and its ownership by the government of Pakistan.

Abed further said that the IMF was committed to Pakistan’s poverty reduction and growth strategy and fully supported the programme. He said that the Fund would encourage increased spending under this programme to attack poverty in a holistic manner. Pakistan’s qualitative shift in managing economy was a redeeming factor and IMF was pleased to note that as a partner in development, Pakistan was committed to achieve 4.5 per cent GDP growth, which is expected to increase over 6 per cent in the next two years.

However, he suggested that Pakistan needs to further consolidate these reforms, accelerate the process of restructuring of CBR and public sector enterprises to fight the battle against poverty and consolidate gains it has achieved as a result of prudent economic management in last three years.

Earlier, Aziz briefed visitors about government’s commitment to stay the course of reforms. He said that economic indicators of last six months were encouraging. The revenue generation was buoyant. It has increased by over 15 per cent. The imports have increased by 16 per cent. Non-oil non-food imports have registered a growth of 22 per cent, indicating accelerated economic activities in the country.

The remittances by overseas Pakistanis have crossed $2.14 billion and are expected to cross $3 billion by the end of current financial year. This healthy economic trajectory, indicated buoyancy. It has resulted in an increased foreign direct investment, which has touched $471 million.