ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made “significant progress” toward a staff-level agreement on reviews of the South Asian country’s $8.4 loans, the lender said late Wednesday.
The statement came at the end of a two-week visit by an IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, to Karachi and Islamabad to review a $7 billion, 37-month Extended Fund Facility Islamabad secured last year, and a $1.4 billion, 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility secured in May.
Pakistan’s program implementation remained strong and broadly aligned with the authorities’ commitments, while progress was made in discussions on fiscal consolidation to strengthen public finances while providing needed flood recovery support, according to the lender.
“Significant progress was made in the discussions in several areas, including sustaining fiscal consolidation to strengthen the public finances while providing needed flood recovery support,” the IMF said in a statement.
“Productive discussions were also held on the authorities’ reform agenda to strengthen climate resilience, including the completion of reform measures under the RSF.”
The development comes weeks after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in New York and urged the global lender to take into account the recent flood damages in its upcoming review for the South Asian nation.
The floods, triggered by heavy monsoon rains and India’s release of excess water, have killed more than 1,037 people and affected another over 4 million, besides damaging standing crops, homes and road network. The government has initially estimated the losses at Rs370 billion ($1.31 billion), though a detailed assessment has yet to be made.
This week, the World Bank projected Pakistan’s economy to grow by 2.6 percent in the ongoing fiscal year that began in July, lowering its earlier estimate due to the recent monsoon floods.
The IMF said its officials will continue policy discussions with Pakistani authorities with a view to settling any outstanding issues.
“The IMF team wants to express its sympathy to those affected by the recent floods, and is grateful to the Pakistani authorities, private sector, and development partners for many fruitful discussions,” it added.
