Amid speculations about the delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar on Thursday dismissed all rumours, assuring the public that Islamabad is with Washington. Will enter into a staff level agreement. Lender next week.
Dar’s statement came after jittery investors saw the rupee fall to an all-time low of 285.09 against the US dollar and experts blamed the stalled economy on the IMF.
due payments on time. Foreign commercial banks have started extending facilities to Pakistan. Our negotiations with IMF are about to conclude and we expect to sign Staff Level Agreement with IMF by next week. All economic indicators are slowly moving in the right direction. 2/2
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) March 2, 2023
Pakistani officials have been in discussions with the IMF on policy framework issues since early February and hope to sign an SLA that would pave the way for further inflows from other bilateral and multilateral lenders. Will be.
After the deal is signed, the lender will disburse more than $1 billion of a $6.5 billion bailout scheduled for 2019, which will serve as a lifeline for the cash-strapped nation.
The coalition government has already taken a number of steps – including adopting a market-based exchange rate, increasing fuel and electricity rates, withdrawing subsidies, and imposing more taxes to generate revenue to cover the fiscal deficit.
As the situation remains dire, the finance minister said in a series of tweets: “Our negotiations with the IMF are nearing completion and we expect to sign a staff-level agreement with the IMF by next week.”
