Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar left for the United States on Tuesday for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB).
Dar will hold meetings with the IMF and the World Bank attend and the annual gathering of the Bretton Woods Institutions, reported Aaj News.
The finance minister is expected to make a formal request to the IMF and the WB to revise the economic targets. Pakistan will also formally request a review of the macroeconomic framework this fiscal year.
A relaxation of the budget deficit and current account deficit targets will be requested, alongside an easing of conditions from the IMF. Talks on freezing the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) and Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) are also expected.
The newly appointed finance minister on Sunday said that Pakistan would deliver on commitments made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ensure the successful completion of the second program during his tenure.
“We will make every effort to honour the commitments made with the Fund so as to ensure that the ongoing program, which has been extended till June 2023 is also completed,” said Dar. He also stated that the ninth review of the program would begin on October 25.
Pakistan will not seek Paris Club debt restructuring, says Ishaq Dar
Dar has said that Pakistan will not seek debt restructuring from Paris Club creditor nations. The statement comes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month made an appeal to the Paris Club for a debt moratorium after the country's already struggling economy was hit by devastating floods that his government estimates will cause economic losses up to $30 billion.
Earlier, the deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Murtaza Syed, told a briefing on Monday that Pakistan had secured an additional $4 billion in funds from multilateral lenders.
Pakistan’s external financing requirements for the current financial year were estimated at around $31 billion, and it had shown a funding cushion of about $6 billion to shore up fast-depleting reserves, which currently stand at $7.8 billion.
The Asian Development Bank is expected to disburse $1.5 billion, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank $500 million, World Bank $1 billion, and about $1 billion from the United Nations in flood aid, Syed said.
These funds should “more than makeup” any effect on the current account and also any delay in plans to raise $2 billion from bonds this financial year to meet financing requirements.
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