The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was \u201cin the process\u201d of meeting representatives of major political parties in Pakistan, including the opposition PTI, to \u201cseek assurances of their support for key objectives and policies\u201d under the new $3 billion Standby Agreement, the lender\u2019s resident representative for Pakistan confirmed on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIMF staff are in the process of meeting with representatives of the major political parties in Pakistan, including PML-N, PPP, and PTI, to seek assurances of their support for the key objectives and policies under a new IMF-supported program ahead of the approaching national elections,\u201d Esther Perez Ruiz told Dawn.com.<\/p>\n
She added that the new agreement was expected to be considered by the IMF Executive Board in the upcoming days.<\/p>\n
The executive board of the IMF will meet on July 12 to review the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan, the staff-level pact for which was finalised last week.<\/p>\n
Pakistan was absent from an earlier schedule released in June, igniting speculation that the IMF was not going to release funds from an earlier programme that expired on June 30.<\/p>\n
On June 29, the IMF and Pakistan reached a stand-by arrangement (SBA) to ease the country\u2019s financial crisis. The nine-month SBA, if approved, will bring $3bn, or 111pc of Pakistan\u2019s IMF quota.<\/p>\n
The SBA, subject to the IMF board approval, offers much-needed relief to a country still grappling with a severe balance of payments crisis and declining foreign exchange reserves.<\/p>\n
Earlier today, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said he would be meeting the IMF delegation during a court hearing \u2014 pertaining to May 9 riots \u2014 in Lahore.<\/p>\n
Upon being asked to join the investigation in the case at 4pm today, the former prime minister said he was unavailable to join the probe as he was scheduled to meet with a delegation from the IMF.<\/p>\n
Separately, PTI leader and former federal minister Hammad Azhar said the PTI\u2019s economic team was approached by the global lender to \u201csolicit the party\u2019s support\u201d for the $3 billion Stand-By Agreement and its broad objectives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn IMF team will call on Party Chairman Imran Khan at Zaman Park this afternoon,\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n
Azhar added that both the PTI\u2019s economic team and the IMF team would join, in person and virtually, to take part in the discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was \u201cin the process\u201d of meeting representatives of major political parties in Pakistan, including the opposition PTI, to \u201cseek assurances of their support for key objectives and policies\u201d under the new $3 billion Standby Agreement, the lender\u2019s resident representative for Pakistan confirmed on Friday. \u201cIMF staff are in the process […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-341930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n