Pakistan Hopes for IMF Staff-Level Agreement on New $350B Loan by Early July
Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb expects the country to reach a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new long-term larger loan by early July.
The current $3 billion IMF arrangement, which Pakistan secured last summer to avoid a sovereign default, is set to expire in late April.
Pakistan, with a $350 billion economy, is grappling with a persistent balance of payment crisis.
The government aims to secure a larger loan to stabilize economic activity and financial markets, enabling it to carry out necessary structural reforms.
This would mark Pakistan's 24th IMF bailout.
The finance minister recently returned from Washington where he led a team to discuss a new bailout plan with the IMF and World Bank.
Discussions were productive, but the details of the longer program, including its volume and duration, are not yet known.
Both sides are already in talks for the new loan, and a formal request will be made once the current facility expires.
The IMF board is expected to meet later this month to approve the final tranche of the current support scheme.
The economy is projected to grow by 2.6% in fiscal year 2024, with inflation projected to decrease to 24% from 29.2% in fiscal year 2023.
The text discusses plans for structural reforms in India's economy as outlined by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also referred to as Aurangzeb in the text.
The reforms aim to increase the government's tax revenue-to-GDP ratio to 13-14 percent within the next few years, up from the current level of around 9 percent.
Additionally, the text mentions the need to reduce losses in state-owned enterprises through privatization and improve management of the debt-laden energy sector.