The annual meeting of IMF-World Bank started in Tokyo, in which finance ministers from 188 countries are participating along with their delegations. The Pakistan's delegation is led by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the other members of the delegation include: Finance Secretary Wajid Rana, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar, Secretary Economic Affairs Division Javed Iqbal and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Nadeem-ul-Haque, says a press release received here from Tokyo on Wednesday.
The countries participating in this meeting will share each other's experiences and issues and come up with new prospects on economic and financial problems. On the sidelines of the conference, a two-day dialogue on disaster prevention also began in Sendai on Tuesday where Secretary Economic Affairs Division and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission from Pakistan participated. Sendai was badly hit by Great East Japan Earthquake in March last year. In this dialogue reconstruction efforts by Japan are being shared with the other countries of the world.
Besides giving interview to NIKKEI Forum a prestigious Japanese newspaper with 3 million plus circulation, the Finance Minister met with the Managing Director of World Bank Sri Mulyani Indrawati. Both the dignitaries discussed Pakistan's economic situation and fiscal health and identified steps to address the avenues that will be helpful for Pakistan's financial discipline and strengthen with consequent support to trade and industry.
The Minister explained economic situation of Pakistan in detail highlighting the achievements of the government like containing the expenditure and controlling the inflation. Despite various constraints Pakistan has succeeded in achieving 20 percent increase in tax collection.-PR