- The personnel agreement remains unresolved despite progress.
- Frequent policy changes hinder IMF negotiations.
- Praises the implementation of the program and budgetary reforms.
Islamabad: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have not yet finalized an agreement at the level of staff, although IMF officials have recognized substantial progress in negotiations under the prolonged 37 -month fund (EFF), The news reported.
While the Pakistani authorities have expressed optimism as to the conclusion of a broader agreement, frequent changes in political decisions have created obstacles, ultimately preventing the conclusion of the staff agreement at this stage.
“As the Declaration of the IMF, the Bed’s implementation was strong. We have made good progress in our discussions while the mission was here and we will pursue the results focused on the results in the coming weeks, “said Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb in a brief answer when there was questions about the reasons for the inability to conclude an agreement in terms of staff with the IMF on Saturday.
The frequent displacement of goal posts has created differences in achieving consensus. At one point, when the consensus seemed to be feasible, it was said that the political leadership may not accept the difficult conditions. In the end, the IMF chose to return to Washington, DC, without finalizing an agreement at the staff level.
The main reasons for the impasse included the incapacity of the authorities to carry out a primary surplus of 2.4 billions of rupees for the current exercise, persistent losses in the energy sector, unresolved problems linked to public enterprises (SO), delays within privatization and challenges in state expenditure. As a result, the IMF announced the continuation of the discussions.
Sources have revealed that an agreement had been concluded with the IMF to increase the number of points of sale (POS) by installing several thousand more during the current financial year. In addition, it has been agreed to implement video surveillance of manufactured products, although the main objectives of this measure were not entirely clarified.
Another high -level negotiator said The news This significant progress had been made in discussions, but the finalization of a staff level is a long process.
In a press release entitled “Pakistan: Declaration of end of mission on the first review for the extended 37 -month system under the installation of the extended fund (EFF) and discussions for an arrangement under the resilience and sustainability team (RSF)”, the Washington Global Leder declared that an IMF team, led by Nathan Porter, Karachi from February 24 of February 24. First examination of the economic program of Pakistan supported by the EFF and on a new possible arrangement as part of the installation of resilience and sustainability of the IMF (RSF).
At the end of the discussions, Porter published a statement, saying: “The IMF and the Pakistani authorities have made significant progress to reach a staff level agreement (SLA) on the first examination under the extended 37 -month provision under prolonged fund (EFF).
“The implementation of the program has been strong, and the discussions have carried out considerable progress in several areas, including the budgetary consolidation planned to durably reduce public debt, the maintenance of a monetary policy sufficiently tightened to maintain inflation, the acceleration of reduced reforms for the improvement of the energy sector and the implementation of the social protection of the reform of education and the reform of the reform of the reduction.
“Progress has also been made in discussions on the authorities’ climate reform program, which aims to reduce the vulnerabilities of natural risks linked to disasters, and to support reforms that could be supported by a possible arrangement under resilience and sustainability (RSF).
“The mission and the authorities will continue to be political discussions practically to finalize these discussions in the coming days.
“The IMF team is grateful to the Pakistani authorities, private sector partners and development for fruitful discussions and their hospitality throughout this mission.”