The International Monetary Fund’s Pakistan mission chief, Nathan Porter, has began rare talks with Pakistan over a $7 billion bailout agreed by the board in September, according to the finance ministry and sources.
The IMF mission’s unannounced visit and negotiations, which began with a meeting with the country’s finance team, are too early for the IMF’s first review of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which is due in the first quarter of 2025.
According to the statement, the conference was attended by the chiefs of Pakistan’s central bank and the federal board of revenue, as well as senior officials from both sides.
According to finance ministry sources, the visit from November 11 to 15 will discuss recent advances and program performance to date, but the mission was not included in the initial review.
Pakistan has struggled with boom-and-bust economic cycles for decades, resulting in 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.
According to sources, the major purpose of the visit was to assess the country’s budget deficit, which includes a revenue shortfall of about 190 billion rupees ($685 million) in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
They said external financing gap of $2.5 billion which the South Asian nation needs for the current fiscal year, which runs to June 30, 2025, will also be discussed by the mission.
A failed attempt by Pakistan to sell its national airline, a major setback to plans to privatise all loss-making state-owned enterprises, will also be discussed along with power and gas sectors losses, they said.
