- Govt to develop a consensus on the key contours of the following budget.
- The examination of the examination could be linked to the approval of the budget.
- The country may have to seek Wavier under certain conditions.
Islamabad: The examination mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should visit Pakistan in the first week next month to hold parliays of revision as part of the installation of the extensive fund of $ 7 billion ( ), reported the news on Wednesday.
The fluid navigation of the first examination of the program sponsored by the IMF is considered to be quite crucial, because Islamabad will have to request derogations on the realization of certain conditionalities.
The government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif obtained approval from the IMF executive council for the fresh loans program in September 2024, followed by the disbursement of a branch of $ 1.02 billion.
With IMF officials in Pakistan, Islamabad will also have to develop a wider consensus on the main contours of the next budget for 2025-266 with lender staff.
If the two parties fail to develop consensus, the completion of the first review could be linked to the approval of the Budget of Parliament.
As agreed, the first examination and approval of a billion dollars by the IMF board of directors should be carried out by April 2025.
The disbursement of foreign loans for Pakistan amounted to $ 4.5 billion in the first seven months (July-July) for the current year 2024-25 to 60 billion dollars during the same period from last year. After incorporating the amount of the IMF loan, the total disbursement of foreign loans reached $ 5.5 billion.
However, it remained below the planned loan entries of $ 19 billion for the entire current financial year.
The IMF examination mission should visit Islamabad from March 4 at a time when the current account went from a surplus to a deficit per month (MOM) because it posted a deficit of $ 420 million in January 2025.
“Yes, the IMF exam mission will visit Islamabad in the first week of March,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Finance when the publication asked for his comments on Tuesday.
Sources have said that Pakistan may have to request an exemption for missing a deadline for obtaining approval of agricultural income tax (AI).
Although four provincial assemblies granted their assent, the deadline could not be materialized. The legislation linked to the heritage fund regime and the declaration of assets has not been carried out so far.
The Tajir Dost (TDS) scheme could not provide desired results. The Federal Bureau of Return (FBR) said that an increased number of retailers had filed their income declarations during the current financial year.
Foreign loan disbursements
Pakistan has recovered $ 4.584 billion dollars’ entries in the first seven months for the current fiscal year.
Multilateral creditors paid $ 2.32 billion in the first seven months, including the Asian Development Bank (BAD) has remained the largest partner. The lender based in Manila paid loans of $ 1.04 billion.
The Chinese commercial bank has paid $ 306 million, AIIB 60.22 million dollars, EIB $ 10.53 million, $ 573.8 million IDA from the World Bank IBRD $ $, ISDB 265, $ 72 million, $ 134.19 million ISDB and $ 14 million.
All the Bilateral Creditors Disbursed $ 329.1 million in the First Seven MONTHS OF THE CURRENT Tax YEAR, OUT OF WHICH CHINA PROVIDED $ 99.17 million, France $ 102.5 million, Germany $ 26.09 million, Japan $ 12.7 million, Korea $ 24.4 $ 12.37 and the US $ 40.05 million.
Pakistan has not been able to launch any international obligation because it had planned to report $ 1 billion.
However, the government was able to obtain a commercial loan of $ 500 million. Thanks to the Naya Pakistan certificate, the government has so far generated $ 1.126 billion in the first seven months of the current year.