Timely austerity measures averted default fears: Miftah Ismail

August 10, 2022 (MLN): The serious worries about Pakistan getting defaulted like Sri Lanka have been averted due to significant austerity measures, and belt-tightening, said finance minister Miftah Ismail on Tuesday.

In an interview with CNBC international, he said that the country is in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program now as it had received staff-level agreement for seventh and eighth reviews. Further, it is expected that the country will get the IMF board’s approval later this month.

To curb the demand, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose the interest rate which decreased the imports considerably.

“In the last week, the domestic currency has recovered 7% or so against the US dollar,” the minister said. “If we had gone the Sri Lankan way it would have been much worse.”

Given the high commodity prices and inflation a threat to the global economy, the people of the country had to bear the pain in terms of higher prices.

However, with the help of the IMF loan program, other external financings expected from friendly countries, and the international decline in oil prices, the masses will get some benefits in the coming months.

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