Pakistan, IMF will hold virtual talks today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hold virtual talks today for the completion of the ninth review of $7 billion loan programme.

Negotiations will commence virtually today. The officials of the finance ministry will brief the IMF about the implementation of the conditions set by them for the revival of the loan program.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Economic Coordination Committee’s nod for increase in electricity and gas tariffs has also been taken and it would be shared with the Fund officials.

The virtual talks will continue tomorrow also.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today issued an official statement following the conclusion of the 9th review talks on the stalled loan program.

IMF mission chief Nathan Porter, in a statement, said that the timely and decisive implementation of policy measures along with resolute financial support from official partners are critical for Pakistan to successfully regain macroeconomic stability and advance its sustainable development.

The statement, issued after the mission concluded its 10-day Pakistan visit, welcomed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s commitment to implement policies that are required to “safeguard macroeconomic stability”.

He also thanked the leads for the “constructive discussions”.

On February 9, Pakistan received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) draft from the international lender.

After the negotiations, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated that talks with the international lender ended “positively” and that in order to restart the loan program, the government would need to impose Rs170 billion in taxes through a mini-budget, hours after the IMF released a statement on its discussions with Pakistan on Friday, BOL News reported.

The finance minister told the media that the draft of the government’s Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) had been received from the Washington-based lender.

Earlier in his media appearance, the Finance Minister recalled that the programme the current administration was implementing was one that former prime minister Imran Khan had agreed to with the IMF for the period of 2019–2020. He reaffirmed that the negotiations are being held by the Shehbaz Sharif-led administration as a “sovereign commitment.”

He said, “This is an old agreement which had been suspended and delayed previously.”

The Finance Minister continued by stating that the 10-day negotiations between Pakistan and the IMF team covered a wide range of topics, including the electricity and gas sectors as well as the fiscal and monetary aspects.

Ishaq Dar said, “The SBP governor and officials from different departments and ministries participated in the talks.”