IMF rejects to revise projections despite poor fiscal results.

• Position: Financial report

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has kept the low economic growth rate outlook forecast and "ambitious" fiscal targets unchanged despite admitting "worse than expected fiscal results" at the end of the first year of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government.

On the conclusion of the four-day visit of its mission chief to Pakistan, Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the Washington-based lender officially announced on Friday to keep its projections and targets unchanged.

It also acknowledged the promising start of the $6 billion bailout programme but said that "decisive implementation" was critical for its success.

Although the IMF has given a pat on the back of the government, its decision to keep unrealistic targets unchanged would keep the economic team under stress during the course of the fiscal year.

"The near-term macroeconomic outlook is broadly unchanged from the time of the programme approval, with growth projected at 2.4 per cent in fiscal year 2019-20," the IMF press release quoted Rigo as saying.

The 2.4percent economic growth rate is lower than the 3.5percent projection of...