ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Thursday that it reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan after both sides finally built consensus on future policy actions that are needed to keep the $6 billion programme on track.
“The IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on policies and reforms needed to complete the second review of the authorities reform programme supported under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF),” said Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, IMF Mission Chief for Pakistan, in a statement issued from Washington.
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On February 14, the staff of the international creditor returned to Washington without reaching the staff-level deal due to disagreement over a mini-budget and increase in electricity prices.
Following the discussions between the IMF officials and Pakistani authorities in Islamabad from February 3-13, which continued from the IMF headquarters in recent days, the communiqué added.
“The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF management and consideration by the Executive Board, which is expected in early April”.
The IMF review hiccups
Completion of the review will enable disbursement of $328 million or around $450 million, the IMF said.
If the board approves the second review, the total disbursements by the IMF would reach to $1.9 billion by April.
It was the second statement that the IMF issued on the matter of the second review (October-December) of the programme.
Earlier, the IMF had only announced conclusion of the review mission but did not announce a staff-level agreement.
In the last statement issued about two weeks ago, the IMF had said that the visiting mission and the Pakistani authorities made significant progress in the discussions on policies and reforms.
In the coming days, progress would continue to pave the way for the IMF Executive Board’s consideration of the review
The international creditor had said that steadfast progress on programme implementation would pave the way for the review.
