Pakistan unlikely to start new programme with IMF: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance, Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that Pakistan was unlikely to start new programme with International Monetary Fund in near future.

Addressing a press conference after launching the Economic Survey (2016-17) here, the finance minister said that keeping in view the country's growing foreign exchange reserves and improving economic growth, the country would not need any such new programme with the Fund.

He said when the present government came into power in 2013, the government was liable to repay US $4.5 to IMF, therefore it was forced to start new programme.

However, he said that at current stage, Pakistan had come out of that worst economic situation and its economy was on the upward trajectory.

"I am confident that if I would be the finance minister in June 2013, we will not go IMF", he said in response to a query that whether Pakistan would sustain without IMF programme until June 2019.

The minister said that ideally if exports ratio of a country is 10 percent of GDP, then it would not need any foreign loan.

He said the government was taking special measures to boost exports and hoped to receive positive results out of those measures.