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WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (APP):Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan was poised to sign a preliminary deal on a review of its loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week, a key step required to pave the way for another $1.24 billion payout from the lender.
Recently, an IMF mission was in Pakistan for the staff level agreement on the second review of the Washington-based lender’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility and the first one on its $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility agreed in 2024 to shore up the economy after a severe financial crisis.
“The mission was on the ground for a couple of weeks, we had very constructive dialogue with them around the quantitative benchmarks, the structural benchmarks, and we’ve been having some follow-up discussions,” the minister, who is currently in Washington, told Reuters during an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.
“During the course of this week, we’re hoping that we can get the SLA done,” he added
Countries under IMF lending programs need to pass regular reviews, which, once signed off by the Fund’s executive board, trigger a payment of the next tranche of IMF funding.
Aurangzeb expected the government would launch a green Panda bond – the first one denominated in Chinese yuan for Pakistan – before year-end and return to international markets next year with a bond sale of at least $1 billion.
“Euro, dollar, Sukuk, Islam Sukuk – we’re keeping our options open,” he said.
Meanwhile, the privatization process – under an economic reform and fiscal stabilization agenda – was expected to gain traction in the fiscal year to end-June after disappointing results last year.
“This is very important as part of our economic roadmap,” he said.
Pakistan was also making progress on the sale of three power distribution companies and the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
“We are quite hopeful,” Aurangzeb said, citing prospects for qualified bidders for PIA after lucrative routes to Europe and Britain were opened, which made it “a very good proposition for the investors.”