WASHINGTON: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin left Washington on Thursday without concluding the talks that could have led to a much-needed endorsement of the government’s economic policies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The minister, however, leaves behind Finance Secretary Yousaf Khan to further pursue the talks for the resumption of a $6 billion loan facility that would bring an immediate relief to the cash-starved government by delivering a…
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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced on Thursday that Pakistan will remain on its increased monitoring list, also called the grey list. Pakistan has been on the grey list for deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes since June 2018. Announcing the decision, FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer said that Pakistan had to complete two concurrent action plans with a total of 34 items. “It has now addressed or largely addressed 30…
WASHINGTON: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin held a series of meetings with senior officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington on Wednesday for finalising the release of the next tranche of a $6 billion loan facility. The PM’s aide rushed to Washington from New York on Tuesday to join the ongoing discussions as an IMF official acknowledged progress. The finance secretary was holding the talks in his…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the IMF are inching towards striking a staff-level agreement and a positive outcome is expected anytime soon. Both the IMF and Pakistani authorities confirmed on Wednesday night that Adviser to PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin was making last-ditch efforts to strike a staff-level agreement with the IMF staff by evolving a consensus on Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP). “Yes we are close,” said Adviser to PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin…
At a time when the world’s economy is gradually returning back to pre-pandemic levels and stabilising, Pakistan appears to be facing a bigger crisis with no definite strategy to bring it out of this situation. Former finance minister and now adviser to the PM Shaukat Tarin has resumed talks with the IMF in Washington, and rumours circulate that these talks may bring yet another hike in the prices of petrol, which already went up just…
NEW DELHI: The failed Pakistan and IMF talks on Sunday, before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary session which is scheduled to be held from October 19, is not good news for the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan who has been at loggerheads with the powerful military establishment over the issue of appointment of the ISI chief. As per the 2019 IMF deal, the Imran Khan government had agreed to the formal mention of…
A number of Kabul residents have complained about the rise in prices of goods in Kabul’s markets as the value of the Afghani has fallen against the dollar in recent days. The dropping in value of Afghanis against the dollar has greatly reduced business in the markets. According to the money exchangers, recently the smuggling of dollars has also caused problems in the markets. Currently, one dollar is exchanged for about 90 Afghanis in the…
ALMATY: Afghanistan’s economy is set to contract up to 30% this year and this is likely to further fuel a refugee crisis that will impact neighbouring countries, Turkey and Europe, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. With non-humanitarian aid halted and foreign assets largely frozen after the Taliban seized power in August, Afghanistan’s aid-reliant economy “faces severe fiscal and balance-of-payments crises”, it said in its regional economic outlook update. “The resulting drop in living…
Senator Faisal likely to vacate seat for Tarin to become FM : Report in Daily Times, Oct 19th, 2021.
The government seems to have finally found a way of making now former finance minister and present advisor to prime minister on finance and revenue, Shaukat Tarin, the new finance minister as well. Sources have revealed exclusively to Daily Times that Senator Faisal Javed, who chairs the Senate standing committee on information and broadcasting, has agreed to fall on his sword, for king and country, so that Shaukat Tarin can be elected to parliament and…
ISLAMABAD: After the government’s failure to get Shaukat Tarin elected as a member of the Parliament within the stipulated six-month time-frame, the government has appointed him as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenues with the status of Federal Minister. The portfolio of finance minister had fallen vacant and Prime Minister Imran Khan is now holding this key position. According to the much-awaited notification, issued on October 17 and released on Monday, says…
Crisis looming:op-ed Khurram Husain in Dawn, October 21st, 2021
The writer is a business and economy journalist.RARELY have I seen a ruler so oblivious to the tsunami heading his way. While the prime minister is busy preaching family values to the country on a daily basis, the spiral of inflation that is heading in our direction once the combined impact of the petrol and power price hikes work their way through the system will set off a chain of consequences that even the most…