IMF executive board to discuss Pakistan programme on September 25: spokesperson

The board of the International Monetary Fund will meet on September 25 to discuss the $7-billion programme agreed in July with Pakistan, an IMF spokesperson said on Thursday.

“The board meeting is scheduled to take place on September 25 and this is following Pakistan obtaining necessary financing assurances from its development partners,” IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said in a scheduled press briefing.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said earlier on Thursday that “friendly” countries helped Pakistan meet requirements necessary to secure an IMF bailout.

Separately, central bank governor Jameel Ahmad on Thursday also said the government had arranged external financing assurances, and it was hoped the IMF Executive Board will take up Pakistan’s loan programme during the ongoing month.

“The government has arranged external financing,” Ahmad said at an analyst briefing held after the monetary policy announcement. “We are hopeful the IMF will take up Pakistan’s case in September.”

Pakistan signed a staff-level agreement with the IMF for the three-year programme in July, but it needs the lender’s Executive Board to sign off on the bailout.

Confirmation of external financing commitments had been seen as a hurdle in securing the approval.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb earlier this month said that the government was in the “advanced stages” of seeking assurances around external financing.