An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is set to visit Pakistan this month to discuss policies and reforms. According to details, the IMF mission will visit Pakistan this month in connection with a new loan program. Policies and reforms will be discussed, while the federal budget for the new financial year will also be discussed.
The visit coincides with the financial eagles of the country starting preparations to formulate the upcoming fiscal year’s budget.
According to sources, the IMF is pushing for the acceleration of reforms rather than the size of the program.
Pakistan successfully completed a $3 billion short-term program last month that saved it from defaulting. Now the government is pushing for a new long-term loan program. The IMF has not specified the date and duration of the visit.
Pakistan’s $350 billion economy has stabilized since the completion of the recent IMF program.
A couple of days ago, the federal government decided to stop providing subsidies to government officials ahead of the IMF mission’s visit on a new loan package. According to media reports, the subsidy given to Customs officers from grades 17 to 22 has been abolished.
Sources say that the subsidized house rent and medical charges to customs officers have been abolished.
According to sources, the customs officers were being given these incentives from the common pool fund, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had ordered to end subsidies and incentives from the common pool fund.
On April 30, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received $1.1 billion from the IMF. The IMF Executive Board had completed the second review under the stand-by arrangement in its meeting on April 29 and approved the disbursement for Pakistan.
Accordingly, SBP received SDR 828 million in its account from the IMF. The amount was reflected in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves for the week ending on May 3.
