WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday said that some members of the visiting Pakistani team will remain in Washington till Tuesday to finalize the resumption of the IMF loan facility.
Addressing a press conference at the Pakistan embassy, the minister said that the Finance Secretary will be in Washington to continue talks with the IMF while the State Bank governor and he will be in New York and virtually engage in talks.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had earlier said that it is holding open and constructive discussions with Pakistan on the Sixth Review of its financial package and stands ready to support the country in achieving its objectives of debt stability.
Minister says that the negotiating team will be in the US to finalize the resumption of the credit facility
In July 2019, the IMF approved a 39-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan for an amount of $6 billion to support Islamabad’s economic reform programme.
Mr Tarin said that in the next few days, Pakistan and the IMF will issue a joint statement announcing the resumption of the credit facility. He said that after the announcement, the IMF will release about one billion dollars to Pakistan.
The minister said that Pakistan has shared some data with the IMF on electricity and gas tariffs and tax collections.
“They said they are validating the numbers we shared and will get back to us,” he said. “We told them we welcome the review.”
The minister said that in this quarter, the government had collected an additional value of Rs 175 billion, which we have shared with the IMF.
Mr Tarin said that during the visit he also held meetings with US officials and the Turkish minister.
SBP Governor Riyaz Bakir, who accompanied Mr. Tarin, talked about the current account deficit.
Published in Dawn, October 16, 2021
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