Pakistan, IMF talks to begin this week
The finance minister stressed that there was a sincere effort on the part of him and his team to complete the IMF’s programme but the delay was unfortunate. Photo: afp
Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will start their negotiations for the next installment of $700 million this week -- a real challenge for the country’s interim-set-up.
An IMF review mission will land in Pakistan on November 2 and review the country’s economic performance during the first three months of the current fiscal year --from July to September.
According to sources, the review mission will be led by global lender’s country chief, Nathan Porter.
In July, the IMF reached a stand-by arrangement with Pakistan for a bailout package of $3 billion over nine months. After the IMF board gave its nod in the same month, the Washington-based lender disbursed an installment of $1.1 billion to Pakistan.
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Pakistan has achieved the structural bench agreed with the IMF and its important condition of increasing gas prices has also been met.
Similarly, the circular credit is also within the prescribed limit and the fiscal deficit is in accordance with the set target as well.
The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax collections have exceeded their set target.
There are some difficulties about the external financing required for the budget deficit, but this issue will also be resolved easily too because of the assurances given by friendly countries including China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
If the review mission is satisfied with Pakistan's actions, it will recommend the release of the next installment of the loan to the IMF board, which will approve the release of $700 million in December to the country.