The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not yet included Pakistan on the agenda of its Executive Board calendar meetings scheduled till September 18.
According to the Fund’s website, the IMF updated the schedule of the executive board meeting set to be held on September 9, 13 and 18, but Pakistan’s 37-month Extended Fund Facility Arrangement (EFF) of about $7 billion on the agenda is not included.
In the first quarter of this calendar year, Pakistan successfully completed the IMF Standby Arrangement (SBA) of $3 billion to build sliding foreign exchange reserves and reduce pressure on its external accounts.
Following the completion, the Pakistani authorities and the IMF team reached another staff-level agreement on a new 37-month EFF of $7 billion on July 12.
This agreement is subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board and the timely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.
The government is reportedly working to secure a rollover of $12 billion in loans from key allies, including China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, Pakistan has reportedly requested an additional $1.2 billion loan from Saudi Arabia to address a $2 billion financing gap.
Last week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in a televised speech said the IMF Executive Board’s approval would be on time, as Pakistan is at an advanced stage in getting assurances around external financing.
“We are hopeful that the IMF Executive Board will approve this programme on time,” he had said then.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves’ position is a lot better than what it was at the time of the previous IMF’s SBA. Currently, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stand at $9.44 billion, latest data shows.
This is a far cry from when theSBP-held reserves were at $3.54 billion as of June 16, 2023, right before the IMF’s short, nine-month facility was finalised.
Still, the IMF programme is crucial for Pakistan’s economy that has found it hard to navigate reforms without the path being underpinned by an IMF programme.
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