LAHORE - Former finance secretary has said that the government again will have to approach the IMF for another loan programme as the financial gap cannot be bridged with the issuance of more bonds and Sukuk.

Dr Waqar Masood Khan said that Pakistan has achieved a 13-year high growth of around 6 percent during outgoing FY18 with four-year high large-scale manufacturing growth and low inflation.

Talking to Lahore Economic Journalists Association office-bearers, he said that LSM growth touched a four-year high during first half of FY18 as upbeat demand for consumer durables and construction inputs induced manufacturing firms to flex their capacities; an improved performance by all the major sectors pushed up the import demand.

Dr Wadar Masood, who has been the longest-serving secretary finance during the past 10 years, appreciated the government for letting the foreign exchange set its own rate.

He said the three-year IMF programme completed by the government had supported the economic situation of the country. The economic reforms agenda under the IMF programme bore impressive results as economic growth revived, inflation remained historically low, deficit went down to nearly 4 percent, revenues grew by 60 per cent, reserves increased to a historic high in October 2016. However, the momentum of improvement in the economy could not be maintained in 2016-17 for various reasons including an unprecedented surge in fiscal and current account deficits, leading to loss of reserves. During 2013-16, Pakistan’s economy showed unprecedented improvement.

Quoting the central bank data, he said that overall fiscal deficit is likely to exceed the target for FY18, despite an improvement in revenue growth.

Talking about positive aspects of the economy, he said that the pace of investment following the development on CPEC was an encouraging sign for the future of the economy. The price of oil in the international market is still low if we compare the same in the government of Parvez Musharraf. Besides, the overall trust of investors has improved following the Chinese investment.