Pakistan, IMF start second review of standby arrangement | Maqvi News

Finance ministry says discussions held on overall macro-economic indicators, government’s efforts on fiscal consolidation, structural reforms, energy sector viability and SOE governance n IMF Mission Chief for Pakistan Nathan Porter calls on Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD   –  An IMF mission called on Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb in the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The IMF mission is in Pakistan to conduct the second review of the Standby Arrangement (SBA), says a press statement issued by the ministry on Thursday evening.

Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb welcomed the mission and expressed the government’s commitment towards working with IMF on the reform agenda for economic growth and stability of Pakistan. IMF mission head Nathan Porter, congratulated the Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb on his appointment. Discussions were held on the overall macro-economic indicators, government’s efforts on fiscal consolidation, structural reforms, energy sector viability, and SOE governance.

Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue, thanked IMF for their continued support and hoped for productive meetings during the second review.

Pakistan has already received two tranches worth of $1.9 billion under the Stand-By Arrangement from the IMF. The talks for the remaining last tranche worth of $1.1 billion are expected is scheduled from 14th to 18th March 2024 in Islamabad. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has already directed the concerned officials to approach the IMF for starting talks for the new loan programme. The government would negotiate a “longer and larger” economic bailout package with the IMF. “We would be very keen to start discus­sions on another EFF (Extended Fund Facil­ity) with them” during these talks, he said in the recent talk with the media. According to the officials, the IMF team appreciated the care­taker government’s ef­forts in implementing the programme. The sources said that the fi­nance minister agreed to continue the econom­ic reforms. Pakistan as­sured the IMF mission of implementing all pri­ority points. The gov­ernment also presented a plan to the delegation seeking to increase the Federal Board of Rev­enue (FBR)’s revenues and reduction in circu­lar debt. Earlier, the fi­nance ministry said that Pakistan has met all structural benchmarks, qualitative performance criteria and indica­tive targets for success­ful completion of the IMF review. The min­istry hoped for a suc­cessful IMF staff level agreement after the ap­praisal.