ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will lead a high-powered delegation to attend the spring annual meeting of the Bretton Wood Institutions (BWIs) popularly known as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank from April 10. will do up to 16.
The Finance Minister, along with an official delegation comprising the Secretaries of the Finance and Economic Affairs Division and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor, may present new proposals for dollar inflows to the IMF and the World Bank.
According to a report in JEE News, during the meetings, Pakistan and the IMF will also discuss the possibility of consolidating the remaining 10th and 11th reviews under the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program if the pending ninth. The review is complete.
The IMF program, signed in 2019, expires on June 30, 2023 and the program cannot be extended beyond the deadline under the agreed guidelines.
It remains to be seen how the two sides will proceed with the completion of the bailout program while the 10th review has already been delayed.
The pending ninth review was to be completed in December 2022 and the 10th review should have started from February 2023. The eleventh review was scheduled to begin on May 3.
Now a delayed decision on the ninth review will increase the cost of rectifying the situation.
There are no easy solutions available to fix Pakistan’s ailing economy and the government maintains that it has taken all the tough decisions to revive the stalled IMF programme.
The fund is now seeking confirmation from Pakistan’s bilateral friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, whether they will provide an additional $6 billion in aid by the end of June 2023.
State Bank’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $4.2 billion, which is not even sufficient to meet its foreign debt servicing obligations, including principal and mark-up.
