Experts plead 'Charter of Economy' to overcome crises.

ISLAMABAD -- By Ashraf Wani and Shams Abbasi Notwithstanding the unsuccessful attempts by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to derail the country's fragile economy, the incumbent government had successfully struck a deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF), saving the country from impending default.

Amidst the challenges of depreciating rupee against dollar and burden of repayment of loans, there could have been no other quick fix than to restore the IMF program as the government needed immediate respite in a challenging situation.

The situation had become more taxing after the devastating floods across the country that inundated hundreds of thousands houses and livestock and crops on millions of acre, giving s severe blow to already struggling economy.

In this situation, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail and his team had made untiring efforts to put the Extended Fund Facility (IMF) program back on track. The minister, in his interviews and press conferences, has been vehemently articulating that had the IMF program not been approved, the country would have been facing threat of default.

Moreover, in view of recent floods that inflicted loss of approximately US$30 billion to the national economy, approval of loan facility under EFF by IMF had rekindled hopes of economic survival.

'Agreement with the board has opened other bilateral and multilateral funding avenues for Pakistan, already in dire need to cope with existing economic situation amid flood destruction,' said an economic expert at Finance Ministry. 'The program will strengthen country's external sector and help improve economy as multilateral donors and borrowing agencies would have more confidence in Pakistan,' he added.

The government has also engaged with external financial institutions and expects some encouraging news in near future to overcome economic recession as well as meet the expenses being incurred on flood affected people.

During last week of August, the IMF Executive Board had completed the combined seventh and eighth reviews of the EFF extended arrangement for Pakistan and approved disbursement of SDR 894 million (about US$1.1 billion).

Although the program brought a sigh of relief, yet it is not all and the government and economic managers will have to go extra miles for averting such situation in future and overcoming budget and trade deficit.

Furthermore, it would need extra finances to meet the needs of flood affected in terms of food...

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