Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A spokesman of the Ministry of Finance on Saturday termed the claim of Panamanian deputy minister for economy about a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Washington ‘baseless’. Referring to electronic media reports in this regard, the spokesman in a statement said Panama’s Deputy Minister of Economy Ivan Zarak made an absolutely baseless, unfounded and extremely surprising claim during a CNN interview of meeting with Pakistan’s Finance Minister in Washington. The Finance Minister, he said, had cancelled his visit to Washington DC where he was scheduled to participate in the spring meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund from April 14-17. “How could Ivan Zarak meet the Finance Minister when the latter has not even left Pakistan in the last many weeks?” he questioned. The spokesman said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was very much in Pakistan and performing his day to day duties, which were being covered by the media as well. He said Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan had been representing in the WB/IMF meetings which were currently in progress. The matter was being taken up with the CNN for wrong reporting, the spokesman added.