WASHINGTON: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Ms Christine Legarde has appreciated the commitment of government to economic reforms which put Pakistan on path of growth.

In a meeting with a Pakistani delegation headed by Finance Secretary Waqar Masood Khan here, the IMF chief congratulated Pakistan on continuing with reform process which required politically tough decisions.

She observed that it was primarily due to the government’s commitment to reforms agenda that today Pakistan was ready to increase its growth at par with other countries in the region.

The IMF chief particularly commended strong leadership of Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar in achieving this outstanding performance.

She expressed the hope that Pakistan would keep pursuing sound economic policies to ensure continued stability and growth.

Earlier, Dr Masood apprised the IMF chief about the latest macroeconomic indicators and stated that Pakistan was close to completing the IMF programme and only two reviews were to be completed.

He said the government had met all the performance criteria for next review. This was the first time that Pakistan was going to complete an IMF programme spread over three years, he added.

The Finance Secretary said over the last three years headwinds country faced at the beginning of the programme had largely receded.

Today Pakistan’s economy was poised to achieve a high trajectory of growth as reflected by major indicators like low inflation, high level of reserves, low policy rate, steadily increasing remittances, revival of large scale manufacturing and increased private sector lending, he added.—APP