Washington/Islamabad (TDI): Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has interacted with the World Bank-IMF Staff Association in Washington besides holding key meetings with his Turkish counterpart and the US Treasury Department in Washington DC.
In his meeting with the World Bank-IMF Staff Association, he provided an overview of the continued stabilization measures undertaken by Pakistan, supported by the IMF Extended Fund Facility, an official statement said on Wednesday.
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The finance minister expressed Pakistan’s resolve to sustain growth by achieving fiscal consolidation, improving the governance and management of SOEs, reducing high energy costs in the power sector, and raising productivity and competitiveness by creating a more favourable business environment for the private sector.
Separately, the minister held a meeting with Brent Neiman, Assistant Secretary for International Finance of the US Treasury Department in Washington DC.
During the meeting, he briefed Neiman on measures to broaden the tax base, align the provincial AIT regimes with federal personal and corporate income tax rates, rationalize subsidies, reform the energy sector.
He said that the process of overhauling State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is going on.
On climate change during the meeting, he said that the effective implementation of the C-PIMA Action Plan was ensured to build climate resilience and climate adaptation investments was enhanced.
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The minister also expressed gratitude to the US for its support in securing the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility for Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Aurangzeb held a bilateral meeting with Mehmet Simsek, Türkiye’s Treasury and Finance Minister.
He told Mehmet Simsek that Pakistan could learn from Türkiye’s experience in power sector reforms and invited Turkish firms to enter into mutually beneficial joint ventures (JVs) with their Pakistani counterparts.
Recalling the historical, fraternal bonds and multi-faceted cooperation between Pakistan and Türkiye, the Pakistani finance minister also highlighted the great potential to enhance the current volume of bilateral trade.
