IMF says Executive Board meeting set for August 29

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board meeting for the combined seventh and eight review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) has been set for August 29.

In a message to the media on Wednesday night, the IMF confirmed the date.

Miftah hopeful over IMF board meeting on August 29

Earlier, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail on Tuesday said that he was hopeful the IMF board would meet on August 29, after which the process to disburse funds to Pakistan will start.

“There were minor edits that needed to be made in the Letter of Intent (LoI) and they were sent to the IMF," Miftah had said, while addressing an important press conference in Islamabad.

"We have received the new LoI from the IMF, which would be signed and sent back to the IMF.

“We are hopeful that the IMF board meeting would be held on August 29, after which disbursement of funds will commence."

Pakistan is hoping for the IMF board approval for disbursement of $1.17 billion for the combined seventh and eight review. This will provide much-needed boost to Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves that have fallen to $13.56 billion, latest data shows. Of this, reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are at an alarming level of $7.83 billion.

Read about all the IMF and Pakistan-related developments since the staff-level agreement here

It was reported earlier that the IMF was looking to assess Saudi Arabia’s commitment to financing Pakistan before the multilateral lender disburses fresh funds to the country.

On August 13, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia plans to renew its $3-billion deposit in assistance to Pakistan, while also intending to provide $100 million per month for 10 months in petroleum products that would be granted as additional support.

Meanwhile, an official source in Abu Dhabi had also emphasised the UAE's intention to invest $1 billion in Pakistani companies in various economic and investment sectors, state news agency WAM reported, a key development that took Pakistan closer to meeting what IMF called a funding gap ahead of the board meeting scheduled later this month.

At the same time, the IMF also said that with the increase in petroleum development levy (PDL) at the start of August Pakistan completed the last prior action for the combined seventh and eighth review, adding that the board meeting was tentatively planned for late August once adequate financing assurances are confirmed.

With Saudi Arabia and UAE's commitments, matters of financing assurances have seemingly settled.