Amid concerns raised over failure of the federating units, especially Punjab, to generate the desired revenue surplus, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission sought exact timelines from provinces for their contributions to spending on the higher education and Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) programme for curtailing expenditures.
The National Fiscal Pact (NFP) was signed by the Centre and four provinces just ahead of getting approval from the IMF’s Executive Board under $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) as five governments agreed upon a fiscal framework for raising revenues, sharing expenditures and improving governance.
The visiting IMF mission continued deliberations with Pakistani authorities here on Thursday and they were now heading towards the conclusion with the expectation that both sides would conclude parleys on Friday (today).
It is expected that the IMF may prefer to issue a press statement at the conclusion of five days of talks, starting from November 11 and concluding on November 15.
The IMF reviewed progress on Public Investment Management (PIMA) and Climate-PIMA on Wednesday night and Thursday morning as Islamabad already requested for additional $1 billion in funding from the IMF under Climate Finance for augmentation of loans from $7 to $8 billion.
Under C-PIMA, the government will produce a report detailing the outcomes of our review of all investment projects in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) by December 2024.
The findings from this review will enable streamlining of the PSDP pipeline by developing a prioritisation mechanism for existing projects, identifying those suitable for capping or cancellation.
