KARACHI: A team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be visiting Pakistan in mid-March for the first review of the South Asian country’s $7 billion loan program, an IMF official said on Friday.
A successful review would see the Washington-based lender release around $1 billion tranche to cash-strapped Pakistan, which seeks to boost its foreign exchange reserves to achieve the IMF’s threshold of three-month import cover.
IMF bailouts are critical for Pakistan which narrowly avoided a sovereign default in June 2023 by clinching a last-gasp, $3 billion IMF loan and is currently navigating a tricky path to economic recovery.
“An IMF staff team is scheduled to visit Pakistan in early to mid-March for discussions around the first review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility-supported program,” Mahir Binici, the IMF resident representative in Pakistan, told Arab News in response to a query.
Pakistan, which averted a default in 2023, is currently navigating a path to economic recovery under the $7 billion bailout. The review is expected to revolve around the country’s compliance with its taxation targets and overall structural reforms.
The South Asian country has undertaken several reforms in taxation, energy and others sectors as well as with regard to better management of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs), while provincial governments in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have recently enacted laws to impose taxes on farm incomes in line with the lender’s requirements.
Pakistan’s finance adviser Khurram Schehzad told Arab News in a recent interview that the country was “fully prepared to go into the review process,” adding that the IMF was on board “on the targets and benchmarks that we have achieved as well as only a few we are chasing.”
The South Asian country also seeks to secure an additional $1.5 billion loan from the IMF to deal with climate-related issues under a Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement.
“In this regard, a technical team will be in Pakistan starting in late February to discuss technical issues related to a possible RSF arrangement,” Binici said.
The Global Climate Risk Index places Pakistan among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Floods in 2022, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. The country’s economic struggles and high debt burden impinged its ability to respond to the disaster.
IMF mission to visit Pakistan by mid-March to review $7 billion loan program, official says
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IMF mission to visit Pakistan by mid-March to review $7 billion loan program, official says
- A successful review would see the Washington-based lender release around $1 billion tranche to cash-strapped South Asian country
- Islamabad has also requested IMF for additional $1.5 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility to deal with climate-related issues
Pakistan offers Kyrgyzstan Arabian Sea access as two states sign 15 cooperation accords
- Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan sign MOUs spanning trade, energy, agriculture, ports, education, security cooperation
- Kyrgyz president is on first visit to Pakistan in 20 years as both sides push connectivity and CASA-1000 power links
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday offered Kyrgyzstan the shortest and most economical route to the Arabian Sea as the two countries signed 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding aimed at boosting cooperation across trade, energy, agriculture, education, customs data-sharing and port logistics.
The accords were signed during a visit to Islamabad by President Sadyr Zhaparov, the first by a Kyrgyz head of state to Pakistan in two decades, and part of Islamabad’s renewed push to link South Asia with landlocked Central Asian economies through ports, power corridors and transport routes.
For Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan offers access to hydropower through CASA-1000, a $1.2 billion regional electricity transmission project designed to carry surplus summer electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan. For Bishkek, Pakistan provides overland access to warm-water ports on the Arabian Sea, creating a shorter commercial route to global markets.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated Pakistan’s readiness to offer Kyrgyzstan the shortest and most economical route to the Arabian Sea,” Radio Pakistan reported after Zhaparov met the Pakistani president.
The two leaders also discussed expanding direct flights to deepen business, tourism and people-to-people ties.
Zardari welcomed Kyrgyzstan’s completion of its segment of the CASA-1000 project and “reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to completing its part of the project, which is now at an advanced stage,” the state broadcaster said.
Zhaparov thanked Islamabad for supporting Bishkek’s candidacy for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat and invited Zardari to visit Kyrgyzstan at a time of his convenience. Both sides expressed satisfaction with progress under the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement, designed to facilitate road movement between Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China.
Earlier, both governments exchanged 15 sectoral cooperation documents covering commerce, mining, geosciences, power, agriculture, youth programs, the exchange of convicted persons, customs electronic data systems and a sister-city linkage between Islamabad and Bishkek.
According to APP, the MOUs were signed by ministers representing foreign affairs, commerce, economy, energy, power, railways, interior, culture, health and tourism. Agreements also covered cooperation between Pakistan’s Foreign Service Academy and the Diplomatic Academy of Kyrgyzstan, as well as collaboration between universities, youth ministries and cultural institutions.
“Our present mutual trade, comprising of about $15–16 million will be enhanced to $200 million in the next two years,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said after the agreements were signed, calling them “a framework for structured, result-oriented engagement and closer institutional linkages.”
Sharif said Pakistan was ready to serve as a maritime outlet for the landlocked Central Asian republic, offering access to Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar to help Kyrgyz goods reach regional and global markets.
