The Pakistani government and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have completed talks in Islamabad without concluding a final agreement on the resumption of the financing program. This was reported Thursday evening by Geo.tv, citing Pakistan's First Deputy Finance and Revenue Minister Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh.
"[During talks in Islamabad] preliminary steps were agreed upon," the channel quoted the government official as saying. - "Negotiations with the IMF have been completed. The Fund has handed over [to Pakistan] the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies."
According to the deputy minister, an agreement to complete the ninth review of Pakistan's compliance with IMF requirements, as well as an agreement to provide a new loan, will be signed "in the near future." "All issues between the IMF and Pakistan have been settled," Sheikh added.
It is noted that the Fund representatives will leave Islamabad on Friday morning, and a detailed IMF statement on the outcome of the talks will come after the fund management approves the agreements reached.
Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that Pakistan and the IMF had tentatively agreed on resumption of financing. It was expected that Minister of Finance and Revenue of the Islamic Republic Ishaq Dar will make an official statement on the results of the negotiations, but in view of no final agreement, the press conference was canceled.
There was a similar situation between Pakistan and the IMF in mid-2022. Islamabad received an Economic and Financial Policy Memorandum from the fund in late June 2022, which contained additional conditions that Islamabad had to fulfill before the fund's management would consider resuming the financing program and providing the Islamic republic with $1 billion in July 2022. Pakistan met the agreed requirements on time, and in August 2022, the fund management resumed the funding program.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Taimur Dee/Creative Commons 4.0
Based on materials from TASS