Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said on Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had postponed the review until February 2. The postponement is said to have been caused due to the delay in the passing of the State Bank amendment bill by Senate.
The bill was supposed to be passed on Wednesday in order for the review meeting to take place on January 28. Tarin, however, reassured that the bill would be passed soon.
Regarding inflation effects, the minister admitted that the lower-middle-class had suffered and a plan to increase the income would be presented. He added that despite facing challenges the national economy was moving at a steady pace as the growth rate increased to 5.57 per cent from 5.37pc previously.
He also said that electricity utilisation rose by 13pc and an increase in exports and bumper crops is also expected.
Regarding Pakistan’s ranking in the Transparency International (TI) report, the finance minister said that a decline in Economic Intelligence Unit score caused a slip in the country’s ranking. He added that TI had not issued a complete brief and only one pager information had been issued.