ISLAMABAD
Pakistan has fulfilled the pre-conditions for the disbursement of the combined 7th and 8th tranches of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan program after it increased the petroleum development levy.
“With the increase in PDL on July 31, the last prior action for the combined 7th and 8th review has been met,” said IMF Resident Representative in Pakistan Ester Perez Ruiz. “The Board meeting is tentatively planned for late August once adequate financing assurances are confirmed,” she said.
“The IMF Executive Board meeting will be held at the end of August if adequate funding is assured to Pakistan,” the IMF statement said. According to sources, the IMF meeting is contingent on assurances of $4.2 billion in funding from Pakistan’s friendly countries.
The statement came after two days after the government announced doubling the petroleum levy on petrol from Rs10 to Rs20 per litre and diesel from Rs5 to Rs10 per litre for the first half of August 2022. The price of petrol was brought down by Rs3.05 per litre.
Following the changes in the prices, petrol is now available for Rs227.19 per litre. Previously, petrol was being sold in the country for Rs230.34 per litre. Meanwhile, there has been an increase of Rs8.95 in the price of high-speed diesel, after which the new price will stand at Rs244.95 per litre.
On Monday, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said that Pakistan can come out of its current economic crisis without descending into default as progress has been made on the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan as well as spending cuts, Bloomberg reported.
In a phone interview, the finance minister said: “With the commodity supercycle and Russia-Ukraine war, oil prices skyrocketing and gas going as high as ever been in history, Pakistan and other emerging countries have been facing the worst crisis.
“Nonetheless, Pakistan will weather the storm through the IMF bailout programme, the introduction of a significant tight budget, and by depressing the demand for imports.”
