The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission and Pakistan have made significant progress towards reaching a staff-level agreement on expanding the funding facility, the international financial institution said on Friday.
The IMF has begun talks with Pakistan on a new lending programme after Islamabad completed a $3 billion short-term loan programme last month, helping it avoid a sovereign debt default.
The IMF said in a statement that a team led by head of international affairs Nathan Porter arrived in Pakistan on May 13 and concluded discussions with authorities on Thursday.
“The mission and authorities will continue their policy consultations virtually over the next few days, aiming to finalize discussions, including on the financial support needed from the IMF and Pakistan’s bilateral and multilateral partners to support the authorities’ reform efforts,” Porter said.
“The authorities’ reform program aims to move Pakistan from economic stability to strong, inclusive and resilient growth,” Porter added.
Pakistan will seek at least $6 billion under the new program and is likely to request additional funding from the IMF under its Resilience and Sustainability Fund.
The global lender stressed that its priority on reforms to jump-start Pakistan’s economy outweighs the size of the new lending package under negotiation.
Ahead of the talks, the IMF had warned earlier this month that downside risks to Pakistan’s economy remained very high.
