WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan resumed their talks on Monday, with Islamabad hoping that these virtual discussions lead to a deal that eases up ever-increasing pressure on the country\u2019s ailing economy.<\/p>\n
In Islamabad, Finance Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh told Reuters the \u201cduration (of the talks) cannot be confirmed but we intend to wrap these up at the soonest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pakistan held 10 days of intensive talks with an IMF delegation in Islamabad \u2014 from Jan 31 to Feb 9 \u2014 but could not reach a deal.<\/p>\n
The IMF, however, said in an earlier statement that both sides have agreed to stay engaged and \u201cvirtual discussions will continue in the coming days to finalize the implementation details\u201d of the policies discussed in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
Insiders say Fund wants Pakistan to start work on agreed measures before releasing next tranche<\/p>\n
The talks in Islamabad focused on the ninth review of an IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement with Pakistan, concluded in 2019.<\/p>\n
The IMF appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s commitment to implement policies needed to safeguard macroeconomic stability and described the discussions as constructive.<\/p>\n
The IMF also acknowledged they made \u201cconsiderable progress \u2026 on policy measures to address domestic and external imbalances\u201d. The Fund highlighted the key priorities discussed in Islamabad, which included increasing revenue, reducing untargeted subsidies, and scaling up social protection programmes.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic observers in Washington say the IMF wants Pakistan to start implementing the suggested measures. The sources point out that the IMF statement issued after the Islamabad talks underlined this issue as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timely and decisive implementation of these policies along with resolute financial support from official partners are critical for Pakistan to successfully regain macroeconomic stability and advance its sustainable development,\u201d the IMF said.<\/p>\n
The \u2018official partners\u2019 identified in this statement include international financial institutions like the IMF as well as Pakistan\u2019s bilateral partners such as China and Saudi Arabia that the sources said were reluctant to extend financial support to Pakistan without an IMF package.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IMF is adamant, no deal without implementation,\u201d said a diplomatic source.<\/p>\n
When asked if Pakistan was close to clinching a deal with the lender, a senior Pakistani government figure told Dawn: \u201cNot that I am aware of. This time, they want to make sure that we do not renege on our pledges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi tweeted, \u201cWe do not have any choice other than IMF. All stakeholders have to be on board.\u201d He also suggested removing the \u201cimpression that politics and political considerations are overriding economics\u201d, because \u201cat stake is Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a tragedy! A country of 224 million people with nuclear capability waiting for consent from junior IMF officers after uselessly delaying the programme for 3 months,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan resumed their talks on Monday, with Islamabad hoping that these virtual discussions lead to a deal that eases up ever-increasing pressure on the country\u2019s ailing economy. In Islamabad, Finance Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh told Reuters the \u201cduration (of the talks) cannot be confirmed but we intend to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-313658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n