Newly-appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Thursday that he was departing for Washington, where he was anticipated to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in order to revive the loan facility that was delayed after the premature end of the Imran Khan government.
Ismail, who replaced Shaukat Tarin in the new government, tweeted before leaving for Washington that the goal of the visit was to “put back on track our IMF program that PTI and IK (Imran Khan) derailed, thus endangering our economy”.
He added that he would travel to London on the way, where he would hold meetings with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Miftah said that Islamabad’s priority was to secure one tranche of $1bn from the IMF and prepare for the coming budget. He said that he was set to meet with the IMF managing director, chief executive officer of the World Bank, executive directors of the G-7 nations, ministers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China and the IMF mission chief to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the rupee’s decline against the US dollar persisted on Thursday, trading at Rs187 in the interbank market as the market opened. The dollar climbed by Rs1.30 against the rupee, which had closed at Rs185.92 in the interbank on Wednesday, to reach Rs187.22. In the open market, the dollar was being traded at Rs187.50.
