ISLAMABAD: The News said on Thursday that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is expected to travel to Pakistan in mid-May to finalize the terms of Islamabad’s upcoming bailout program under the $6–$8 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
According to the report, the IMF delegation will be in the nation for around two weeks, during which time it will develop the macroeconomic and fiscal policies for the ensuing three to four years.
It further stated that the government may impose strict measures to achieve budgetary stabilization when it presents the upcoming budget 2024–25 to parliament on June 6 or 7.
This move occurs just a few days after Pakistan formally requested the Fund last month for the next bailout package, with the option of increasing it through climate funding.
Following their meeting with Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, last month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Reuters, “We expect the IMF mission to be in Islamabad around the middle of May — and that is when some of these contours will start developing.”
But the precise scope and duration won’t be known until May 2024, when a consensus has been reached on the main features of the upcoming program.
In April, Jihad Azour, the Director of the IMF for Middle East and Central Asia, also stated that the Fund is willing to assist Pakistan and that the reform package is currently more significant than the size of the new programme.
