ISLAMABAD – Policy Level Negotiations Between Pakistan & IMF. After the conclusion of talks on technical issues, Pakistan will begin policy level negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. The talks wil start from next week, as Pakistan seeks third instalment of $450 million loan.
According to details, the Ministry of Finance will have policy-level talks with the IMF delegation. Which will consider proposals including giving more autonomy to regulatory bodies like NEPRA and OGRA. During negotiations, the proposal for increase in electricity and gas prices will be discussed. Whereas, there is also the possibility of introducing a new slab for the power sector.
Reports indicate that the IMF staff mission has expressed concerns at the projected fiscal deficit. This came during the ongoing second review of the 6 billion dollar loan programme. Meanwhile, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and IMF delegation will discuss the introduction of new taxes and increasing tax rate. Policy Level Negotiations Between Pakistan & IMF.
Furthermore, the privatisation ministry will provide the IMF delegation details on sales of loss incurring entities. During the technical level talks, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) provided data on exchange rate and interest rate to the delegation.
IMF has released SDR 328 million (about $ 452.4 million), bringing total disbursements to SDR 1,044 million (approx $1.45 billion). Meanwhile, Pakistan will receive $450 million if talks succeed this time.