Muhammad Aurangzeb says Pakistan is making good progress with IMF for Board\u2019s approval in September
\n Islamabad
\nThe government in Islamabad has said it is making good progress with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hopes to get board approval in September for a new $7 billion loan programme.
\n\u201cWe are making good progress with the IMF for Board approval in September,\u201d Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday in a text message to Reuters.
\nThe federal minister\u2019s remarks come as the country is so far unable to sign a Letter of Intent (LoI) for making a formal request to the Washington-based lender\u2019s executive board for considering approval of $7 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.
\nA day earlier, The News report stated the country is yet to secure confirmation on an external financing gap of $3 to $5 billion, despite passage of five weeks after striking a staff-level agreement under a fresh EFF bailout package.
\nThe finance czar and the State Bank of Pakistan (BSP) governor Jameel Ahmad are supposed to sign the LoI on behalf of the government and the commitment would be dispatched to the IMF\u2019s executive board with a request for approving $7 billion under the EFF programme of 37 months.
\nIt should be noted here that Pakistan and the IMF had struck a staff level agreement on the 37-month loan programme on July 12, 2024, with the country hoping that its request would be considered for approval by the IMF\u2019s executive board in four to six weeks.
\nThe IMF said the programme was subject to approval from its executive board and obtaining \u201ctimely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan\u2019s development and bilateral partners\u201d.
\nIslamabad again faces external financing as major stumbling block in the way for securing fresh bailout package from the IMF.
\nPakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China to meet gross financing needs under the IMF programme, Aurangzeb said in July following a trip to China to seek energy sector debt reprofiling.
\nRollovers or disbursements on loans from Pakistan\u2019s long-time allies, in addition to financing from the IMF, have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past.
\nThe global lender earlier this week issued calendar for executive board\u2019s scheduled agenda items. However, the Fund has not included Pakistan into list of countries for which the IMF board would consider approval of loans till August 28, 2024.
\nThe IMF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Pakistan\u2019s external financing needs and the executive board\u2019s meeting on Pakistan\u2019s loan programme.
\nDuring an analyst briefing following the central bank\u2019s decision in July to cut rates by 100bps, the central bank chief said he expected rollovers of $16.3 billion in the fiscal year to June 2025 \u2014 more than half of Pakistan\u2019s $26.2 billion external financing requirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Muhammad Aurangzeb says Pakistan is making good progress with IMF for Board\u2019s approval in September Islamabad The government in Islamabad has said it is making good progress with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hopes to get board approval in September for a new $7 billion loan programme. \u201cWe are making good progress with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n