Minister of State for Economic Affairs Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar has said that after successfully concluding the three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan will be exiting from this programme by the end of the year, thus, becoming the first country to successfully complete a PRGF programme and not requiring any fresh support from the Fund.
She was addressing the two-day 29th annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Tehran on Tuesday.
Hina has been nominated as IDB governor for Pakistan in place of Shaukat Aziz on his elevation as the prime minister of Pakistan.
Highlighting economic achievements of the country, the minister said, it is essentially to the wise, sagacious and dynamic leadership of President Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan has made significant advances in creating an enabling environment where private initiative and people's abilities are allowed to flourish and the government is restricted to play the role of a neutral regulator.
Reforms have freed all the sectors of the economy and public investments are made only to meet increasing needs of infrastructure to enhance the productivity of the private sector, she said.
These reforms have enabled the economy to withstand the shocks that we experienced in the aftermath of 9/11 the Afghan war and more recent consequences of Iraq war.
"We have played a leading role in combating the threat of terrorism and our country is paying a high price for such efforts," she added.