ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Thursday the government was set to start "massive implementation" of the development activities that remained its major challenge before and expressed the hope that the country's real GDP to exceed a 6.6 per cent target for the current fiscal year.

He welcomed the IMF board of directors' decision to allow Pakistan to exit from the Fund's programme prematurely and said the continuous strength of economy and fiscal discipline would lead the country to the path of economic management to leverage its full potential.

"Pakistan is very pleased today that the IMF board of directors has agreed to our request for exiting the IMF programme prematurely," the prime minister said while talking to a group of journalists here at the Prime Minister House.

The IMF has also agreed to Pakistan's request to jump straight to the article-IV consultations instead of Post-Programme Monitoring (PPM) mode. The PPM mode envisaged six-monthly reviews by the IMF of the economic performance and a binding implementation of the IMF directives even after the completion of the programme, a senior official explained.

"There was no benefit in exiting the Fund Programme and still complying with its conditionalities under the PPM mode and hence we made a big effort at the highest level of the government to convince the IMF board that we do not need PPM", said the official. The official said the US, UK, Japan, China and India are IMF's article-IV partners and Pakistan now stands in that list.

Asked whether premature exit by Islamabad from the IMF programme would invite penalties, the official said Pakistan has itself volunteered not to avail the last $262 million tranche of three year $1.57 billion Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF).

The IMF statement distributed among the journalists stated the board also approved Pakistan's request for waivers for the non-observance of three structural performance criteria and of a continuous performance criterion against the imposition of intensification of exchange restrictions.

The Prime Minister said: "Today is defining moment for Pakistan's economy and its economic managers as we are now entering a more market-based fund raising and economic management. Pakistan will be even more active player in the international capital market."

Asked whether this meant the economic managers would feel relaxed in the aftermath of graduation from the IMF programme, the prime minister said the government would remain as disciplined and reform oriented because the responsibility is even more and added it would be a new lifestyle altogether.

The official said the prime minister has specially directed the authorities concerned for reviewing the proper implementation of the development projects for the socio-economic development and welfare of the people.

He said the government would be launching Islamic bond "Sukkuk" within three months besides more Eurobonds and other bonds for development projects, particularly water sector bonds.