IMF wants Pakistan to accept conditions first to get $2b loan
The IMF said that Pakistan will be needed to accept its conditions first before getting 'two combined tranches' of loan worth $2 billion.
Just a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hinted at getting $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global financial institution said that Pakistan will be needed to accept its conditions first before getting ‘two combined tranches’ of loan, according to an English daily.
Pakistan will have to take at least two more “prior actions” to secure two combined tranches of about $1.85 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of July or early August, Khaleeq Kiani of Dawn newspaper reported Wednesday.
Top government sources said these prior actions — which will be in addition to a series of structural benchmarks for the performance review — would be necessary for the Fund’s executive board to approve the merger of the seventh and eighth quarterly reviews of the 39-month, $6bn loan programme that originally began in July 2019, the report said.
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Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had announced on Tuesday that Pakistan had received the Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the combined seventh and eighth reviews.
Yesterday, PM Shehbaz Sharif revealed that he was told that the country will hopefully be receiving $2 billion from the IMF instead of $1 billion and the federal government set a goal to achieve self-reliance. He revealed the development while addressing the Turn Around Pakistan Conference organised by the Ministry of Planning and Development.
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The premier stressed the need for all quarters to work together for the country’s progress as well as the need for self-reliance. Self-reliance guarantees political and economic independence, he said.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had also claimed that Pakistan came out of danger of facing default with the IMF after receiving combined economic and financial targets for the seventh and eighth reviews of the bailout programme.
He, however, said that the situation will still be difficult as the government planned to take 33 per cent more tax than last year. He termed the additional tax collection as an achievement of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government.
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Pakistan receives draft MEFP from IMF
Pakistan has received the draft Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the International Monetary Fund for the combined 7th and 8th reviews.
Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail made the announcement on Twitter. The draft MEFP is a prerequisite for paving the way for moving towards striking a staff-level agreement.
