Policy-level talks with IMF to begin tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials and the visiting review mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will start crucial policy level talks from Monday to decide the fate of the $1.7 billion tranche of the Standby Arrangement (SBA), it is learnt.

Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and SBP Governor Shahid Hafeez Kardar will lead the Pakistani side, while the IMF’s delegation will be headed by Adnan Mazarei, mission chief for Pakistan. The policy level talks, officials said, would continue for two to three days.
During the technical level talks, Pakistani and IMF officials finalised targets of real GDP growth at 2.8 percent, inflation at 14.5 percent, current account deficit at minus 2 percent and FBR’s revenue collection at Rs1,689 billion provided the government took additional measures such as imposing flood tax and abolishing sales tax exemptions.

UN warns of surge in food prices

ISLAMABAD: Global food prices are on the rise again, says the latest Food Outlook issued by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Wednesday.

FAO identified a number of possible causes contributing to the price rise: low levels of world cereal stocks, crop failures in major exporting countries; rapidly growing demand for agricultural commodities for bio-fuels; and rising oil prices.

As the price strengthening accelerated, several other factors emerged to reinforce the upheaval, most importantly, government export restrictions, a weakening US dollar and a growing appetite by speculators and index funds for wider commodity portfolio investment on the back of enormous global excess liquidity.