IMF to hold talks from February 3 under $6 billion EFF

Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hold talks starting from February 3 for the second review under the US$6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

This was confirmed by IMF Resident Representative Teresa Daban Sanchez here on Thursday. She said, "The IMF and Pakistani teams are already conducting preparatory work on the issues pertaining to the second review and the 2018 Article IV Consultations. Everything is getting ready for an IMF mission to visit Pakistan. The team is scheduled to travel in the next few days and start working as soon as possible next week, hopefully starting on Monday, February 3."

The mission would evaluate implementation of economic targets agreed by Pakistan for US$6 billion facility. The IMF mission will also meet Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi. The talks would last for 11 days.

On July 3, 2019, the IMF Executive Board had approved the US$6 billion for Pakistan for 39 months. The country has received US$1.44 billion from the IMF under the EFF so far.