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
https://arab.news/85fus
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
‘Terrified’ Sydney man misidentified as Bondi shooter turns to Pakistan consulate for help
- The man says he received death threats after his images were spread widely on social media
- He sought consular help after relatives in home country began receiving alarmed phone calls
SYDNEY: A Sydney man said he had received death threats and was “terrified” to leave his home Monday after his photo was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting.
A father and son duo opened fire on a Jewish festival at Australia’s best-known beach on Sunday evening, killing 15 people, including a child, and wounding 42 more.
Authorities have condemned the attack as an act of terrorism, though they have not named the two shooters — one killed at the scene, and the other now in hospital.
However, Australian public broadcaster ABC said the alleged assailant was Naveed Akram from the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg, quoting an anonymous official, and other local media reported that police had raided his home.
Photos of a beaming man in a green Pakistan cricket jersey pinged across social media.
Some of the posts were shared thousands of times, drawing vitriolic comments.
But the photo was taken from the Facebook profile of a different Naveed Akram, who pleaded Monday for people to stop the misinformation in a video published by the Pakistan Consulate of Sydney.
“Per media reports, one of the shooters’ name is Naveed Akram and my name is Naveed Akram as well,” he said in the video.
“That is not me. I have nothing to do with the incident or that person,” he said, condemning the “terrible” Bondi Beach shooting.
“I just want everyone’s help to help me stop this propaganda,” he said, asking for users to report accounts that misused his photo, which he had shared in a 2019 post.
’ LIFE-THREATENING’
The 30-year-old, who lives in a northwestern suburb of Sydney, told AFP he first heard around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday that he had been falsely identified as the shooter.
“I could not even sleep last night,” Akram told AFP by phone, adding he deleted all the “terrible” messages he got.
“I’m terrified. I could not go outside, like it’s a life-threatening issue, so I don’t want to risk anything... my family is worried as well, so it’s quite a hard time for me.”
He asked the Pakistan Consulate to put out the video because relatives in the country’s Punjab province were getting phone calls as well.
“It was destroying my image, my family’s image,” he said.
“People started to call them. They were worried, and they have told the police over there.”
The Pakistan native moved to Australia in 2018 to attend Central Queensland University and later did a masters at Sydney’s Holmes Institute.
Today he runs a car rental business, and he said Australia is “the perfect country.”
“I love this country. I have never had any safety issues here, like everyone is so nice, the people are so nice here,” Akram said.
“It’s only this incident that has caused me this trauma.”
