Teams
ISLAMABAD: The IMF and the government teams held a first round of talks for the evaluation of economic performance of Pakistan under the Stand-by Arrangement.
Nathan Porter, IMF mission chief, is leading the team of the fund.
Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, secretary finance, chairman FBR and other officials of the government’s economic team are holding discussion with the IMF.
On Thursday, the economic team and the IMF officials discussed the initial process for measuring the economic performance of Pakistan under the SBA.
Both sides will hold technical and policy level talks for 10 days in Pakistan, followed by a decisive round of virtual parleys between IMF top officials in Washington and government’s team in Islamabad.
The completion of talks will lead to the disbursement of $700 million second tranche of the IMF’s SBA, involving a total of $3 billion loan facility.
Earlier, the IMF team reached Islamabad on Wednesday to conduct evaluation of economic performance.
Notably, during the first quarter of the current financial year, the government has implemented several measures, including raising gas, electricity and oil prices, to meet IMF’s conditions.
The IMF-Govt teams held the first round of talks for economic evaluation of Pakistan on Thursday.
Furthermore, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves and current account deficit are aligned with the IMF’s stipulations.
Pakistan exceeded its tax collection target by Rs66 billion, as per the agreement with the Fund.
Furthermore,
Pakistan’s trade imbalance experienced an expansion, reaching $2.099 billion in October 2023. This marked a significant growth of 38.27% compared to the previous month’s deficit of $1.51 billion.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported the latest foreign trade data on Thursday.
During October, exports saw a positive shift, compared to the previous month, reaching $2.71 billion.This was a notable improvement from the $2.48 billion recorded in September 2023. Moreover, the year-on-year comparison demonstrated even more favorable results, with exports rising by 13.55% when compared to October 2022.
