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
Pakistani stocks breach 176,000 points barrier as investors expect further rate cuts
- Pakistani financial analyst attributes surge to falling inflation, investors expecting further policy rate cuts
- Pakistan’s finance ministry said Thursday that inflation had slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks continued their bullish run on Thursday, breaching the 176,000 points barrier for the first time after trading ended, with analysts attributing the surge to investors expecting further cuts in the policy rate.
The KSE-100 benchmark gained 2,301.17 points at close of business on Thursday, marking an increase of 1.32 percent to settle at 176,355.49 points.
Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent last month, breaking a four-meeting hold in a move that surprised markets. Pakistan’s consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, while prices fell on a monthly basis as per data from the finance ministry.
“Upbeat data for consumer price index (CPI) inflation at 5.6pc in December 2025 [with] investors expecting a further State Bank of Pakistan rate cuts on falling inflation data,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities Ltd., told Arab News.
The stock market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares, with a traded value of Rs48.424 billion ($173 million), compared with 957.239 million shares valued at Rs44.231 billion ($158 million) during the previous session.
Topline Securities, a leading brokerage firm in Pakistan, credited the surge to strong buying at the first session.
“This positivity can be accredited to buying by local institutions on the start of the new calendar year,” it said.
Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad highlighted that the bullish trend at the stock market reflected “strong investor confidence.”
“With lower inflation, affordable fuel, stronger reserves, rising digitization and a buoyant capital market, Pakistan’s economic outlook is clearly improving--supporting greater confidence, better investment sentiment and more positive momentum for 2026,” he said on social media platform X.
