Daily Times

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar would lead the Pakistan delegation at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank (WB) Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. scheduled on October 7 to 9.

The Finance Minister is scheduled to talk about various issues
including the global economic environment, Pakistan economy, poverty reduction and disaster risk management.

The Finance Minister would highlight the risks to slow-moving
global recovery including deteriorating conditions for exports, weak economic activity in advanced economies, rising private sector debt in a few large emerging markets and heightened geopolitical uncertainties, official sources said.

The Minister is expected to give details about the performance of Pakistan economy, as the country achieved macroeconomic stability in the last three- year through reducing energy shortages, higher revenue collection, wider tax base, significant reduction in fiscal deficit and infrastructure development.

The minister would inform the forums about the priorities of
Pakistan government, on consolidating the gains and achieving higher, inclusive and sustainable growth which has been over 4 percent for three years in a row and reached 4.71 percent in financial year 2016, the highest in last eight years, the sources added.

He would also speak on adoption of a new and better
methodology for measuring poverty, moving from “Food Energy Intake” to “Cost of Basic Needs” formula, which raised the bar on who is considered poor in Pakistan.

According to the new methodology, the poverty headcount
percentage declined from 64.3 percent in FY 2002 to 29.5 percent in FY 2014.

If measured on the old methodology, the poverty headcount in FY 2014 would have been 9.31 percent.

The Finance Minister would also talk about the risks
management policy of Pakistan as well as about the development of institutional capacity and resilience so that the economic losses of natural disasters are contained.