IMF board meets today with Pakistan expecting $1.2bln approval

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to meet today (Monday), with Pakistan expecting approval of around $1.2 billion, according to official information.

The IMF has released its board calendar for 8 to 14 December, confirming that Pakistan’s case is included in the agenda. The Fund said the board will review the staff-level agreement reached recently with Islamabad.

According to the IMF, the board may authorise the release of a $1 billion tranche under the current loan programme.

In addition, Pakistan could receive the first $200 million instalment from the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), designed to support climate-related initiatives.

Final approval will depend on the board’s deliberations during the meeting.

Earlier it was reported citing sources, Pakistan had accepted a key condition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to conduct a special audit of supplementary grants issued over the past ten years.

The 10-day technical discussions between Pakistan and the IMF have now concluded. Officials also confirmed that Pakistan has agreed to another IMF requirement aimed at limiting the federal government’s discretionary authority to issue supplementary grants.

The IMF’s technical mission arrived in Pakistan on November 11 to review progress on budget-related targets. The talks focused on reforms in public finance management (PFM) and measures to enhance transparency in the budget process.

According to sources, the digital Public Finance Management Assessment was reviewed, and oversight mechanisms for the digitized PFM master plan were discussed.