Islamabad: The Finance Ministry of Pakistan has announced that the government is expected to hold a staff-level meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the last week of February, news sources reported on February 21.
The meeting is expected to discuss the progress made by Pakistan in implementing the economic reform program agreed upon with the IMF, as well as to review the ‘prior steps’ in the form of Supplementary Finance Bill-2023. Briefing the parliamentary committees on finance, Secretary Finance Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh said that the staff-level meeting will be followed by the IMF Executive Board meeting which is expected in the first week of March. He said the staff-level agreement will pave the way to get funds from other international financial institutions.
It is important to note that Pakistan and the IMF are conducting the 9th review of the Extended Fund Facility (EEF) under which Pakistan will get USD 1.1 billion. The IMF has asked the government to implement tax measures to fill the PKR 170 billion revenue shortfall to reach PKR 7.4 trillion revenue target in the current fiscal year(FY).
Nauman Ahmad is an imaginative Pisces whose love for literature and nature is unparalleled. When he's not reading or hiking, he's sleeping and eating, which gives him plenty of energy for his next adventure.
