Dar says govt ‘making efforts’ to secure more than $1.1bn in IMF funding

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday that the government was making efforts to secure more than $1.1 billion in funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the country races against time to revive the stalled bailout programme with the Washington-based lender.

“We are making efforts to ensure that Pakistan not only gets the funds from the ninth review before June 30, but a mechanism is also found to get the ‘balance’,” said Dar during his appearance on ‘Capital Talk’ aired on Geo News on Tuesday.

“There is roughly $2.6 billion (in disbursement) left in Pakistan’s IMF programme, according to my calculations.

“In my opinion, after the budget, which includes the entire year, we have completed the 10th and 11th reviews also,” said Dar, refraining from making further details public.

In August 2022, the IMF Board completed the combined seventh and eighth reviews of the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility, taking total disbursement for budget support to about $3.9 billion.

The approval meant Pakistan now had the ninth, 10th, and 11th reviews left.

However, the bailout programme has remained stalled at the ninth review since November last year, with the IMF categorically stating that there was only time left for one final review.

With the programme set to expire on June 30, Pakistan moved quickly to implement a bunch of prior conditions of the IMF programme by incorporating major changes in the budget measures, reducing the gap between the inter-bank and open-market rates, and also hiked the key policy rate after an “emergency meeting” on Monday.

During his appearance on ‘Capital Talk’, Dar said the interest-rate hike was also a demand of the IMF.

However, a green signal from the IMF is awaited.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also held a telephonic conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, and expressed optimism that a decision on the bailout programme would be made in a day or two.

This was the PM’s second interaction with the IMF official after the two also met on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in Paris last week.