ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government would generate more or less $9 to $10 billion in loans from the multilateral creditors, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank through programme and project lending during the current fiscal year.
The revival of the IMF programme will pave the way for the provision of a Letter of Comfort (LoC) from the Fund and the resumption of of programme/policy lending from the WB, ADB and IDB.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund is expected to around mid-August 2022 to consider the approval of the seventh and eighth reviews and the release of $1.17 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
However, the revival of the IMF programme hinges upon price increases only, and the Fund failed to mention any desired structural reforms for removing bottlenecks of the economy that ultimately resulted in the surfacing of twin deficits, known as the budget deficit and the current account deficit, Geo TV reported today.
The IMF literally ignored the rising inflation in its statement on the occasion of striking staff level agreement with Pakistani authorities, giving strength to the perception that Washington-based lender is totally indifferent to miseries being faced by inflation-stricken middle-income salaried and pensioners.
The flow of circular debt is touching Rs850 billion, which has raised many eyebrows because there is total electricity billing of Rs1,600 billion out of which piling up of circular debt of Rs850 billion was shocking for the policymakers.
When contacted about plans for the IMF’s executive board meeting, Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail on Thursday said that it would be held after the second week of August 2022 for approving Pakistan’s request for the release of $1.17 billion tranche.
To another query regarding the resumption of programme loans from other multilateral creditors, Miftah Ismail replied that Pakistan was expecting $9 billion as budgetary/project loans and there would be a separate amount from the IMF as well. So, in totality, there are indications that Islamabad will muster up dollar loans of approximately $10 billion from multilateral creditors during the current fiscal year 2022-23.
