Karachi :Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on the recent staff-level agreement with the IMF is success of the government.

Pakistan will receive 500 million dollars from the IMF while it will boost the confidence of international institutions and investors while masses will have to bear the burden of strict conditions of the lender, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that renewal of the deal will help reduce the budget deficit while triggering inflation due to energy price hike and enhanced taxation measures.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that details of the deal have not been released but the former deals indicate that the poor and middle-class will have to suffer.

He said that the economy is improving, forex reserves are at a comfortable level, current account deficit is in surplus but there are some problems in the tax collection for which some unpopular decisions will be taken.

The business leader said that the IMF has stressed upon some adjustments in important departments but it has not pushed reforms very strongly knowing that adjustments without reforms have never worked in the past.

Reforms are necessary to improve tax collection and make the economy competitive so that our products can find some space in the international market.

He said that some circles are of the opinion that there was no need for the IMF deal if the economy was doing well as it will hit production and exports in case a Rs6 hike is allowed in power tariff on the directives of IMF.