The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the final review of a $3 billion bailout, where the country will receive $1.1 billion after approval from the Fund’s Executive Board.
In a statement, the IMF confirmed, “The agreement recognizes the strong program implementation by the State Bank of Pakistan and the caretaker government in recent months, as well as the new government’s intentions for ongoing policy and reform efforts to move Pakistan from stabilisation to a strong and sustainable recovery.”
Earlier, the finance ministry had announced the schedule of review talks to end on March 18. However, informed sources said that the two sides had hectic sector-wise meetings, impacted by reduced working hours due to Ramazan.
During the talks, sources told Dawn that the two sides had agreed on a set of contingency measures to address gaps in data in case of any slippages for the period ending March 31. The two sides will remain in contact on a timely basis in the run-up to presentation of the country’s case to the Fund’s executive board for approval.
An informed source said that most of the work was completed on Monday which included detailed discussions on upgrading the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and the Combating the Financing of Terror (CFT) laws in line with best international practices and a detail plan regarding a complete freeze on electricity and gas sector circular debt where the base electricity tariff would be revised with effect from July 1, 2024 in a manner that consumers would face predictable monthly fuel costs.
