Ishaq Dar to negotiate 9th Review of IMF programme in Washington

• Pakistan will negotiate for the 9th Review of EFF
• The talks will be held in Washington from 11-17 October
• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will lead the Pakistani delegation

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani delegation led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is expected to visit Washington to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the 9^th Review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Sources within the Finance Ministry revealed the negotiations will the IMF for the next tranche of the financial assistance programme will be from October 11-17. In this regard, a delegation held by new Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will visit Washington to hold talks with the global financial institution.

Sources revealed that the finance minister will discuss freezing the petroleum development levy for three months and delaying fuel price adjustment. There will also be wide-ranging discussions regarding the revision of economic goals for the current financial year 2022-23.

The seventh and eighth combined reviews of IMF’s EFF Programme have been completed. The government will now hold talks for the ninth review of the financial assistance programme.

Under the deal with the IMF, the government had to gradually increase the PDL on petroleum products to a maximum of Rs50 per litre to collect Rs855 billion during the current fiscal year.

Ishaq Dar took over reigns of the Finance Ministry from his party member Miftah Ismail as the finance minister last week. He returned to Pakistan after staying abroad for five years after the coalition government decided to bring a new economic team.

Dar reduced the prices of all petroleum products by around five percent, reversing a policy of raising prices monthly through levies to ensure enhanced revenues as agreed with the IMF.

The decision was termed ‘reckless’ by his predecessor Miftah Ismail who said it was against the agreement reached with the IMF as both spared over the matter.

Dar claimed that imposing additional levies was not justified and he will deal with global lender. “I have been dealing with the IMF for the last 25 years; I will deal with it,” he said.

However, IMF resident representative in Islamabad, Esther Perez Ruiz has said that policy commitments made by the government to resume the support programme continue to apply.

“Policy commitments made by the Pakistani authorities as part of the seventh and eighth reviews under their IMF-support programme continue to apply,” she said while speaking to a news agency.

She said policy discussions, including how to target support to those affected by the floods while maintaining macroeconomic stability, will commence in the coming weeks after the damage assessment report becomes available.

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