ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will resume their talks on a bailout agreement for a second day (Saturday) in Islamabad.
Earlier, Pakistan and the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission have made good progress in their discussions held in the federal capital, Finance Ministry said on Friday.
In a brief press statement, the Finance Ministry said that the consultations would continue over the weekend.
“We have made good progress in our discussions with the visiting IMF Mission. Consultations will continue over the weekend,” a brief statement issued by the finance ministry said.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/pakistan-imf-make-progress-in-talks-finance-ministry/
Islamabad and the IMF mission had kicked off technical level talks on April 29 to sort out details of the proposed bailout package over the next 10 days. The two sides were scheduled to conclude a staff-level agreement today.
A final decision will be made on Monday, according to reports in local media.
Media reports revealed that Pakistan and IMF were close to finalising a staff-level agreement expected to range between $6-7 billion, adding that Pakistan would have no choice but to concede to the IMF’s demands to hike power tariffs and taxes and withdraw tax concessions and exemptions under the IMF proposed bailout package.
According to the ministry sources, the government would increase the costs of electricity and gas for the consumers in two phases within this year. New taxes amounting to Rs700 billion would be revealed in the budget for the next fiscal year, to be announced on June 11.
