The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the amount of financing necessary to ensure Pakistan stays current on external payments has remained unchanged throughout discussions under the ninth review.
“There is no truth to reports that the IMF is asking Pakistan to raise $8 billion in fresh financing,” IMF’s Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz told Business Recorder on Sunday.
“The IMF will continue to support Pakistan in the best possible way to secure sufficient financing by partners. The amount of financing necessary to support the authorities’ implementation efforts and ensure that Pakistan stays current on external payments has remained unchanged throughout discussions under the ninth review.”
The statement comes after it was reported that the Fund has asked Islamabad to now arrange $8 billion in fresh loans to back the external debt repayments during the next seven months. The report, citing government sources, stated the IMF has raised the demand for additional financing from an earlier unmet condition of $6 billion to $8 billion aimed at ensuring debt repayments coming up for the May-December 2023 period.
Pakistan’s bailout programme with the IMF started in 2019, but has remained stalled at the ninth review since November last year. The programme is due to end in June.
Concerns increased after Pakistan implemented taxation measures, hiked energy tariffs and let the exchange rate float freely, but was still unable to reach a staff-level agreement with the IMF.
The Fund then said it was looking forward to obtaining the necessary financing assurances as soon as possible to pave the way for the successful completion of the 9th Extended Fund Facility (EFF) review, a statement that came after Pakistan said it secured $3 billion in fresh commitments from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
On Sunday, the lender’s resident representative said the IMF welcomes the announcement of important financial support to Pakistan from key external partners, and looks forward to obtaining the remaining necessary financing assurances.