KARACHI: A final agreement on a financial assistance package from the International Monetary Fund will be announced on Monday, a top Pakistani government official said on Saturday, as talks continued to chalk out the final details of a bailout at a time of worsening economic outlook for the South Asian nation of 208 million people.
The long-delayed rescue package would be Pakistan’s 13th IMF bailout program since the late 1980s.
A visiting IMF team was expected to wind up negotiations by May 10 but the finance ministry announced on Friday night that talks would continue over the weekend.
“The talks will continue for two days (Saturday and Sunday),” Yousaf Baig Mirza, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Media, told Arab News. “The final outcome will be on the day after tomorrow (Monday).”
Prime Minister Imran Khan has called a meeting on Monday to review a draft of the deal, local media reported.
Khan, who assumed power in last August, inherited a wobbly economy but has faced growing criticism for failing to steady the ship. He has also been frustrated by low tax-collection rates.
Last month he carried out a sweeping cabinet reshuffle, including appointing experienced technocrat Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as his new de facto finance chief after removing Asad Umar. This month, Khan also changed the central bank governor and tax collection chief.
One of the key sticking points during the IMF bailout discussions so far has been how to manage the local rupee currency, whose exchange rate the central bank underpins in a de facto managed float system. But the country has been burning through its foreign currency reserves to defend the rupee.
Pakistan reportedly has agreed in latest talks to implement a flexible exchange rate, hike the policy rate, withdraw subsidies, reignite a privatization program, and curtail borrowing from the central bank.
The central bank in March cut its economic growth estimates, forecasting the economy would expand 3.5 to 4 percent for the year to the end of June, well short of a government target of 6.2 percent. The IMF paints a gloomier picture, predicting growth of 2.9 percent in 2019 and 2.8 percent next year.
Pakistan’s consumer price inflation in March rose to its highest since November 2013, hitting 9.41 percent year-on-year, before easing to 8.82 percent in April.
Outcome in IMF bailout talks expected on Monday, Pakistan says
Outcome in IMF bailout talks expected on Monday, Pakistan says
- Long-delayed package will be Pakistan’s 13th IMF bailout since the late 1980s
- PM Khan calls meeting on Monday to review draft of deal
Pakistan seeks oil deal with Russia as energy ministries hold talks, RIA reports
- Pakistan began buying Russian crude in 2023 as it looked to cut energy import costs amid rising global prices
- Finance chief Muhammad Aurangzeb says both sides are exploring the construction of a steel plant in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Russia and Pakistan are in talks on a potential oil-sector agreement, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told RIA news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.
“All of these areas are Russia’s strengths. And we would be very happy if Russia agreed on an agreement in this sector with Pakistan,” Aurangzeb told RIA in an interview when asked about wider cooperation in exploration, production and refining between the two countries.
“At present, the issue is being discussed by the energy ministries of both sides.”
Russia also discussed upgrading a refinery in Pakistan with Russian companies involved, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev had said in November.
Pakistan has stepped up engagement with Russia in recent years as Moscow sought new energy markets after Western sanctions over Ukraine, and Islamabad looked to lower import costs. Pakistan began buying Russian crude in 2023.
Aurangzeb also said Russia and Pakistan are looking into building another steel plant in Pakistan, RIA reported.
