ISLAMABAD – The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will lead a delegation to attend the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in the US from April 10 to 16.
The delegation will include secretaries from the Finance and Economic Affairs Division and the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. The delegation may present new proposals to the IMF and World Bank for obtaining dollar inflows.
During the meeting, Pakistan and the IMF will discuss the possibility of combining the remaining 10th and 11th reviews under the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program in case the pending 9th Review is completed. The IMF program, signed in 2019, will expire on June 30, 2023, and cannot be extended beyond the deadline.
The completion of the bailout program is uncertain since the 10th Review has been delayed. The 9th Review was scheduled to be completed in December 2022, the 10th Review should have started in February 2023, and the 11th Review was scheduled to begin on May 3. The delay in the 9th Review will increase the cost of rectifying the situation.
The government believes that it has already made difficult decisions to revive the stalled IMF program, but there is no easy solution to fix the ailing economy of Pakistan. The IMF is seeking verification from Pakistan’s bilateral friends, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, to provide additional assistance of $6 billion until the end of June 2023.
The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan were $4.2 billion, which is insufficient to meet foreign debt obligations, including principal and markup payments.
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