IMF concerned over Pakistan’s economic reforms

KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concern over Pakistan’s slow implementation of energy sector reforms and a revised general sales tax, officials said on Tuesday.

The IMF and Pakistani officials are meeting in Islamabad to discuss the possible release of the sixth tranche of an $11 billion emergency loan agreed in November 2008, which has kept the economy afloat. Talks end on Tuesday.

“Though things are not very good, it is still too early to say whether the sixth tranche is in danger,” an official source said.

If the IMF does not approve the release of the sixth tranche other donors would be hesitant to provide aid or loans, as well, which would threaten Pakistan’s economic stability.

US stocks’ week of reckoning arrives

NEW YORK: The wait is almost over. After a two-month rally in the stock market, some investors are about to see if they get what they wished for: more Republicans in Congress and lots of cheap money.

The US stock market has priced in the Republicans gaining ground in Tuesday’s midterm elections, an outcome widely seen as more business-friendly, as well as the Federal Reserve pumping billions into the economy through Treasury debt purchases. The Fed’s statement on Wednesday afternoon at the end of its two-day policy meeting is widely anticipated for details of the central bank’s economic stimulus plan.
Jobs will be a touchstone, with the high US unemployment rate figuring into the campaign rhetoric of Democrats and Republicans alike in the midterm elections.

IMF power deal sealed after US dropped trade links

WASHINGTON: A last-minute deal among G20 nations to give emerging economies more voting power at the IMF was made possible when the United States abandoned efforts to link the shift to trade balance targets, sources said on Wednesday.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner introduced the idea of tying actions to bring about a better-balanced global economy to more International Monetary Fund voting power during meetings of the Fund in Washington last month.
Geithner fleshed out his proposal in a letter to finance ministers of the Group of 20 nations in which he pressed for a deal to limit current account surpluses and deficits to a specified share of national output.