IMF expected to reach staff-level agreement with Pakistan soon

The country representative for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ester Perez, has called the conversations with the Pakistani government regarding the ninth review “productive.”

“Discussions have enabled a revision to the macroeconomic outlook post floods as well as an in-depth evaluation of fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, and energy policies adopted since the completion of the combined seventh and eighth reviews,” said Perez.

The chief of the IMF in Pakistan stated that the international lender is eager to continue discussions about policies that effectively address the requirements for assistance and recovery after the floods while also maintaining external and fiscal sustainability based on the available resources.

Furthermore, a senior member of the Pakistani administration told The News that the IMF negotiations were doing well and that a staff-level agreement will likely be reached soon.

The ninth review was scheduled for November 3, 2022, according to the IMF seventh and eighth review documents, which were published on the website at the end of September 2022.

After discussions with Pakistani officials that ended on November 18, 2021, the executive board approved the sixth review on February 2, 2022. This delay was brought on by the inability to meet the ‘prior’ conditions.

The proposed dates for the seventh and eighth reviews were set for March 4 and June 3, respectively, in the staff report that was made public following the approval of the sixth review. However, after talks that ended on May 25, 2022, the IMF executive board accepted the seventh and eighth reviews under the EFF on August 29. This delay was once again caused by the failure to meet the ‘prior’ standards.