IMF board expected to approve $1.2bn tranche for Pakistan by ‘early December’, says Aurangzeb

KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board was expected to approve the next tranche for Pakistan in “early” December 2025.

The two sides reached the staff-level agreement (SLA) in Washington DC in mid-October.

“The IMF is expected to approve the next tranche by early December,” Aurangzeb said while speaking at the 9th Edition of The Future Summit titled ‘Course Correction: Redefining The Direction’ on Wednesday.

The IMF board is estimated to approve issuing $1.2 billion in its third tranche, including $1 billion under the ongoing 37-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and another $200 million under 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The SLA was signed at the completion of the IMF second review of the economy under EFF.

During his speech, Aurangzeb mentioned the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (OICCI) latest business survey result.

“[Up to] 73% CEOs of the foreign firms operating in Pakistan believe the country is a viable investment destination at present compared to 61% CEO in the previous survey,” he said.

“The endorsement has come from the existing investors, which is an important thing. If the existing investors are not in a good place, you cannot talk about new foreign direct investment. [In this regard,] we have a long way to go, but we are moving in the right direction.”

The finance minister said Pakistan had achieved macroeconomic stability with the support of its traditional partners including China, US, GCC, and Saudi Arabia in particular.

“They all have provided Pakistan the required funding, provided bilateral support, and supported reaching the 37-month EFF with the IMF. Now the time has come to extend and further strengthen the ties through trade and investment. Now we have the real opportunity to translate all of this into trade and investment-grown led by the private sector.”

The areas of attracting the new foreign investments included minerals and mining, IT, agriculture, and pharma, he added.

“Pakistan is using [artificial intelligence] AI-based monitoring to control corruption and tax leakages and theft. The government is already using AI-led monitoring and invoicing models in sugar and banking sectors to stop sales tax leakages. We are going to extend AI-led monitoring in the tobacco and beverages sectors,” he announced at the conference organised by Nutshell.

Aurangzeb informed that Pakistan had registered 900,000 (or 0.9 million) new tax payers in the tax year 2025.