Pakistan meets all IMF targets: Shaukat Tareen

Advisor to PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin said Saturday that the country has met all the targets set by International Monetary Fund (IMF). He was talking to media after holding meeting with the management of Pak-Oman Investment Company Ltd at FTC building. He said that the government borrowing was restricted to Rs. 242 billion during the year, which is below the target of Rs. 258 billion.

“Our borrowings are below the target. We are meeting all the targets of IMF and I have no worries about it”, he added.

Responding to a question, the Advisor said the government will consider lowering discount rates when core inflation starts coming down. The current rate of inflation is 24 percent in the country while the core inflation was hovering at 18.9 percent, he added and hoped that core inflation will come down soon.

Talking of oil prices, he said that the government has lowered petrol prices by Rs. 30 per liter or more than 40 percent since international oil prices have started slipping.

“We have reduced petrol price from Rs. 87 to about Rs. 57 a litre On the contrary, our neighbour India has reduced petrol price by only Rs. 5 per litre”, he opined.

Tarin said that the government will fully pass on the reduction in oil prices at a suitable time. Presently, we cannot fully pass on the benefit of oil price cut keeping in view the situation on the borders and pressure on the revenue collection, he noted.