IMF Board meetings schedule set without Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board has planned sessions without Pakistan till June 29 because the ninth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme is still pending.

Pakistan's currency reserves are hardly enough to fund one month's imports. It had intended to get $1.1 billion of the money in November, but the IMF has insisted on a number of conditions before making any further payments.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the IMF needed to meet in order to release a $1.1 billion tranche under the 9th review of the EFF programme, which expires on June 30.

Pakistani officials are optimistic that the fund will complete the ninth review before the deadline, and that the meeting to release the tranche to Pakistan might be called at any time.

It should be recalled that in his telephone chat with the IMF chief, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested that the 9th review be completed as soon as possible in order for the loan to be released.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed its displeasure with Pakistan's newly proposed budget last week.

Policy discussions are now underway with Pakistan. However, the draught FY24 Budget'misses an opportunity to extend the tax base in a more progressive manner, according to Esther Perez Ruiz, the IMF's resident representative in Pakistan.

Esther Perez Ruiz further added that the long list of new tax expenditures further reduces the fairness of the tax system and undercuts the resources needed for vulnerable recipients in the Benazir Income Support Programme.