Islamabad is hopeful that the first review of the $3 billion standby agreement (SBA) would be completed successfully, as negotiations between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team and Pakistani officials are now in their final round.
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According to sources, policy-level negotiations between the IMF and Pakistani authorities got underway today, Monday, and will go until November 15.
The chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwan, the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Jameel Ahmad, and representatives from the finance and energy ministries made up the Pakistani delegation, which was led by Interim Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar. During the negotiations, Nathan Porter led the IMF team.
According to officials in the finance ministry, the IMF team made demands and recommendations during today’s meeting. The international lender’s staff was given access to economic data during the technical-level discussions.
According to people with knowledge of the situation, Pakistan has fulfilled all of the IMF’s requirements.
According to the sources, the staff-level agreement would be finalized during the continuing policy-level negotiations. They also stated that Pakistan will receive about $700 million following the successful conclusion of the first review.
The finance ministry had stated earlier this month that the IMF assessment team had congratulated the government on its progress toward economic recovery.
A national debt default was prevented in part by the IMF credit program, which was approved in July. Pakistan received $1.2 billion from the IMF as the first tranche of the $3 billion SBA in July; the remaining amount is subject to two evaluations.
Additionally, Akhtar has ruled out the prospect of asking the IMF to extend the SBA program’s duration or scale.
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