ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said it would still take at least a “week to ten days” to finalize a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of a stalled $7 billion bailout program.

Pakistan is desperately struggling to convince the IMF to release the next tranche of $1.1 billion after its forex reserves hit a critically low level which is barely enough to cover three weeks of controlled imports.

The country is also dealing with spiraling inflation and rapid depreciation of its national currency while trying to keep the economy afloat.

Pakistan signed the IMF deal in 2019, though it was stalled last year after the government tried to negotiate some of its conditions while trying to provide financial relief to people.

“The agreement with the IMF will be finalized, but it will still take a week or ten days,” the prime minister said while addressing the apex committee meeting in Islamabad.

Sharif also thanked “a very friendly nation,” without specifying its names, for providing generous financial assistance, saying: “We were all thinking that they would wait for the IMF agreement to finalize before playing their part [in helping Pakistan], but a few days ago, that allied nation conveyed to us that ‘we are giving you [this financial assistance] straight away.’ These things can never be forgotten.”

The PM added the said country had made “many such sincere contributions to Pakistan in the past as well.”

Pakistan has sought financial assistance from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China to avert a default. The country’s official foreign currency reserves have dwindled to $3.2 billion in the face of increasing debt repayments and a reduction in remittance inflows.

An IMF delegation visited Islamabad from January 31 to February 9 to discuss the revival of the program, but it departed the country without signing the staff-level-agreement.

Fulfilling some prior actions as required by the IMF, the country had to jack up the prices of electricity, natural gas and petroleum products, besides imposing additional taxes of Rs170 billion by introducing a finance bill.

“We were left with no option but to approve the tough [IMF] conditions because the state of Pakistan comes first,” the prime minister said while admitting the country was facing major economic challenges.