ISLAMABAD: The visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team expressed displeasure with the Ministry of Finance’s decision to materialize all structural benchmarks, quantitative and indicative targets even before the Fund staff scrutinized and completed the review, according to a The News report published Friday.
IMF Mission Chief Nathan Porter and his colleagues expressed their displeasure that the finance ministry had announced its verdict before the completion of the review process under the $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA) programme, which they had only recently begun, and that they would issue their prescriptions only after analysing official data from various sectors of the national economy.
Before the discussions on Wednesday, the finance ministry claimed in an official handout that they had met all structural benchmarks and other targets before receiving input from the IMF.
Questions for this news report were directed to the ministry spokeswoman, but they went unanswered.
The IMF review mission actually grilled the finance ministry team in the first round of the review talks, and no one seemed to know how to reply, according to the publication.
However, Finance Minister Aurangzeb stated that he had taken note of the situation and that it would never happen again.
