International Monetary Fund (IMF) MD Kristalina Georgieva has stressed the need for more reforms for Pakistan to turn itself into a ‘more resilient economy.’

I had a productive call with Pakistan’s Advisor to PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Governor SBP Dr Reza Baqir, tweeted the IMF chief.

Georgieva was of the view that the government’s policy response and support from the international community helped mitigate the impact of COVID19. However, “further reforms are needed to build a more resilient economy.”

Georgieva was addressing a gathering of Ministers and Governors of Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) Region of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through video link.

The discussion focused on the impact of coronavirus on the economies of the region, lessons learnt through the experiences and policy guidelines to be adopted to deal with the crisis of such magnitude which has caught the world by surprise.

On the occasion Hafeez Shaikh said that incurring more expenditure to provide for the people at or below the poverty line will require more borrowing as it would not be possible to increase taxes at a time of declining growth in the economy.

He said though there were fiscal constraints, after the pandemic, the government had devised a strategy to provide whatever it could to its people and businesses by direct cash transfers and sharing the load of various expenditures of the small businesses.

“The Government is determined to provide employment and fight in-equality”.

Adviser Finance said that there was a need to adopt a coherent strategy with the partner countries in the region for development.