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Pakistan, IMF reach staff-level agreement
Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement, the international money lender revealed Monday. "The agreement is subject to approval by the Executive Board, following the implementation of prior actions, notably on fiscal and institutional reforms," reads a statement by the IMF. "Completion of the review would make available SDR 750 million (about US$1,059 million), bringing total disbursements under the EFF to about US$3,027 million and helping unlock significant funding from bilateral and multilateral partners." The IMF recognised that "despite a difficult environment", Pakistan continues to make progress on implementing the Extended Fund Facility programme. "All quantitative performance criteria (PCs) for end-June were met with wide margins, except for that on the primary budget deficit," stated the IMF. It listed the finalization of the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) update, the parliamentary adoption of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act Amendments as "notable achievements" by the Pakistani authorities. The IMF also acknowledged Pakistan's efforts in improving anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism framework. It also approved of Pakistan's decision of the first tranche of outstanding arrears to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to unlock lower capacity payments fixed in renegotiated power purchase agreements (PPAs). IMF on the macroeconomic front The IMF praised Pakistan's response to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that it had helped control the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic. It also spoke highly of the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) tax revenue collection, saying that it has been "strong". The IMF stated that Pakistan was bearing the brunt of external pressures in the form of a widening current account deficit and the depreciation of the exchange rate. However, the international money lender said these were reflecting "the compound effects of the stronger economic activity, an expansionary macroeconomic policy mix, and higher international commodity prices." "The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has also taken the right steps by starting to reverse the accommodative monetary policy stance, strengthening some macroprudential measures to contain consumer credit growth, and providing forward guidance," it said. For More Videos Subscribe - https://www.youtube.com/geonews Visit our Website for More Latest Update - https://www.geo.tv/ #GeoNews #IMF #PakistanNews

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