Pakistan delegation
including Finance Secretary, Mr. Shahid Mahmood, Governor, State Bank of
Pakistan, Mr. Tariq Bajwa and Secretary, Economic Affairs Division, Mr. Arif
Ahmed Khan attended IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings’ Plenary Session in
Washington D.C. on 13 October, 2017. The
Plenary session was addressed by President World Bank as well as Managing
Director IMF, says a press release received from Washington DC here today.
Later in the day, the
Pakistan delegation met separately with Ms. Annette Dixon, World Bank Vice
President for South Asia Region, Ms. Keiko Honda, Executive Vice President and
Chief Executive Officer, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and
Mr. Dimitris Tsitsiragos, Vice President, International Finance Corporation
(IFC). They also held meetings with
representatives of various private banks and institutional investors.
In their meetings, they
highlighted the current economic situation of Pakistan as well as potential
investment opportunities in the country. They further highlighted that growth
rate achieved in last financial year by Pakistan was the highest in a decade
and that the ongoing CPEC projects, improved security situation and growth in
private sector credit offtake, especially fixed investments, will help Pakistan
in maintaining this growth trajectory in the coming years.
Referring to the main
challenge facing the economy, they mentioned that the current account deficit
was partly driven by higher machinery imports, which in coming years should add
to the growth momentum of the economy through increased economic activity in
the real sector. However, the external account situation is being closely
monitored and steps are being taken to address it.
In their meeting with Ms.
Annette Dixon, the Pakistan delegation referred to debt estimates published in
the recent World Bank report on South Asia. The World Bank acknowledged that
the figures quoted in certain sections of media were grossly exaggerated and an
undue misperception had been created. The delegation also impressed upon the
World Bank to play its role under the Indus Water Treaty to resolve outstanding
dispute between India and Pakistan on the construction of Kishenganga and Ratle
hydropower projects.
With the IFC team, detailed
discussions were held to speed up the process for setting up the proposed
Pakistan Infrastructure Bank. The IFC team stated that process to finalize the
business plan for PIB and initiating other legal requirements would be started
soon.
In their MIGA meeting, the
delegation welcomed the planned visit of MIGA representatives to Pakistan to
carry out due diligence in auto mobile sector and urged them to expand their
operations in Pakistan. On their part, MIGA stated that they planned to
showcase Pakistan’s investment potential during Ms Honda’s planned visit to
South Korea.
