WASHINGTON: Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Thursday said that the government has no plan to increase the power tariff instantly. In his interaction with the American think tank, US Institute of Peace in Washington, the finance minister said that before increasing the electricity tariff, the government will take steps to control inflation in the country. The Pakistan government is in contact with the IMF over the matter, he added. Shaukat Tarin said that they were bringing in reforms to strengthen the country’s economy. We are taking steps to privatise a few loss-making state-owned enterprises to reduce the financial burden, he said. The government has put the country’ economy on the right track, he said and hoped that Pakistan’s growth rate will exceed 5%. The country will soon receive the IMF’s sixth installment, Tarin added. Pakistan wants good ties with both China and USA The finance minister said that they wanted friendly relations with both China and the US. He added that Pak-China cordial ties should not have an impact on Pak-US relations. Pak-US relations should be viewed from an economic perspective rather than just security, he added. The minister said that Pakistan also wanted friendly relations with all neighbouring countries, including India. Kashmir is the bone of contention between Islamabad and New Delhi, he added. Talking about Afghanistan, Shaukat Tarin said that Taliban’s government in Afghanistan is a reality. And Washington will have to understand that the Taliban need aid on humanitarian grounds. If the world abandons Afghanistan, it might be affected with expected anarchy, he said. He added that in this situation, Pakistan would be the most affected country. Tarin said that Pakistan has addressed 26 out of the 27 action items of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “Pakistan is being punished by some countries,” he said. He added that if this was any other country, it would have been removed from the grey list a long time ago.