IMF Review Mission Applauds Pakistan for Economic Progress – Finance Ministry, By Reuters

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) review mission met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Thursday and praised the government for its progress in economic recovery, according to a statement from the country’s finance ministry.

Pakistan is currently functioning under a caretaker government after an IMF loan program, approved in July, helped prevent a sovereign debt default. Under this $3 billion standby arrangement, Pakistan has received $1.2 billion from the IMF as the initial tranche in July.

Nathan Porter, the IMF Mission Chief, expressed appreciation for the government’s commitment to achieving first-quarter targets and commended efforts made in several important areas, as stated by the finance ministry. The IMF has not yet released a comment regarding the meeting.

The finance minister, Shamshad Akhtar, provided a briefing to the IMF team about fiscal measures and discussed reforms undertaken by Pakistan’s taxation authority, as well as strategies to tackle the issue of circular debt, which accumulates in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills.

On Monday, Pakistan’s central bank decided to maintain its key interest rate at 22%. The bank indicated that successfully completing the upcoming IMF review would facilitate access to additional multilateral and bilateral financing.

On October 13, Jameel Ahmad, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), announced that the central bank had met its end-September target of $4.2 billion as part of its agreement with the IMF. He further noted that the SBP is well-positioned to achieve other end-September IMF targets, including Net International Reserves and Net Domestic Assets.