The head of the International Monetary Fund mission in Pakistan, Nathan Porter, on Tuesday began extraordinary talks with Pakistan on a $7 billion rescue plan approved by its board in September, the Finance Ministry and sources said.
The unscheduled visit of the IMF mission and the talks that began with the country’s finance team meeting are too early for the first review of the IMF’s Enlarged Fund Facility, which is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2025.
The statement said that the heads of the State Bank of Pakistan and the Federal Board of Revenue attended the meeting along with other officials from both sides.
The Ministry and the International Monetary Fund did not officially announce the details of the visit.
Sources in the Ministry of Finance said that the visit, which took place from November 11 to 15, would discuss recent developments and the program’s performance so far, adding that the mission was not part of the first review.
Pakistan has struggled with volatile economic cycles for decades, resulting in 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.
The main agenda of the visit was to conduct an assessment of the country’s fiscal deficit, which included a shortfall of about 190 billion rupees ($685 million) in revenue collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the sources said.
The mission will also discuss the $2.5 billion external financing gap that the South Asian country needs for the current fiscal year, which runs until June 30, 2025, they said.
They explained that the failed attempt by Pakistan to sell its national airline, a major setback to plans to privatize all loss-making state-owned enterprises, will also be discussed alongside losses in the energy and gas sectors.
In July, Islamabad provided guarantees to arrange external financing through bilateral and multilateral lenders, in addition to renewing loans from friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Responding to a query about a new Pakistani request for extension of Chinese loans, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in a WhatsApp text message: “All renewals have been guaranteed.”
