KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund mission will visit Pakistan in the coming weeks for the next review of its $7 billion bailout program alongside a broader assessment of the country’s economy, the Fund’s resident representative said on Thursday.

Pakistan is midway through a 37-month, $7 billion Extended Fund Facility approved in September 2024, which has helped stabilize an economy that came close to sovereign default in 2023. The program requires Islamabad to raise revenues, rebuild foreign exchange reserves, reform loss-making state companies and the energy sector and maintain tight fiscal and monetary policies.

The upcoming mission will conduct the fourth review of that program as well as another assessment under a separate climate resilience facility. It will also undertake an Article IV consultation, the IMF’s regular, wider examination of a member country’s economy that assesses growth prospects, fiscal and monetary policies, external finances and risks and can recommend policy changes.

“The mission is expected to visit Pakistan in coming weeks for the next program review and Article IV Consultations,” IMF Resident Representative Mahir Binici told Arab News.

“We’ll assess economic developments, performance against program commitments, and progress toward the program’s objectives.”

The IMF completed the third review of Pakistan’s main program in May, releasing about $1.1 billion and another $220 million under the climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility. Total disbursements under the two arrangements reached about $4.8 billion.

At the time, the Fund said Pakistan had made progress in stabilizing its economy but needed to continue broadening its tax base, rebuilding reserves, reforming state-owned enterprises and keeping electricity, gas and fuel prices aligned with costs.

The next assessment comes against a more difficult external backdrop following the Middle East war, which the IMF has said has pushed up global commodity prices and increased risks to Pakistan’s economic outlook.

The Fund had previously said the next mission would combine reviews of the main loan and climate programs with the Article IV consultation in the second half of 2026.

Completion of a program review typically requires a staff-level agreement followed by approval from the IMF’s Executive Board before the associated financing can be released.