IMF warns Pakistan of continuing budget deficit

Washington: International Monetary Fund urged in his speech, the Pakistani government to take immediate action to reduce public spending, warning of further aggravation of the economic situation of the country.

The newspaper "The Wall Street Journal" America that the IMF believes that Pakistan needs to achieve growth of between 8 and 10% at least in order to absorb the annual increase in its workforce and reduce poverty.

Said Paul Ross, the UNFPA representative in Pakistan: "It is very important for Pakistan to achieve higher growth in order to fight poverty and provide jobs for about two million people enter the job market every year, pointing out that the external debt of Pakistan stands now at more than $ 53 billion in spite of pay more than $ 6 billion in the last three years. "

The newspaper said the U.S. report that the IMF did not spend any loans to Pakistan since last May, not even the victims of flood aid worth $ 450 million, and other donors did not provide any loans.

The news agency quoted the country, "Qana", the paper suggested that the United States of America sought to contribute to the pressure from the IMF on the Pakistani government to make economic changes, which led to the suspension of funding the $ 3.5 billion in 2010 out of loan package a total value of $ 11.3 billion to Pakistan in the context of pressure on them.

The newspaper said that the rate of budget deficit of Pakistan has already 6% higher than the deficit target of 4% due to failure in the application of general sales tax and curb expenditure, which had promised to make the IMF borrowing against it. One of the problems faced by Pakistan that those who pay taxes, only about two million who are mostly professionals and the staff of the middle class out of the country's population, which numbered about 180 million.

Analysts say delays in the implementation of tax reforms may lead to larger deficits in the budget, noting that the failure of Pakistan to complete the IMF program could hurt the country's ability to access international capital markets have hurt investment flows.

Said JR Mudassir Malik, Executive Vice President of the company, "BMA Capital" of the brokerage: "The ability of Pakistan to access the capital market could be hurt significantly, while worried about the IMF and the World Bank and major countries like the United States and European countries and Japan that the economy of Pakistan has paralyzed in light of rising rates of inflation