Aurangzeb arrives in Washington to attend IMF, World Bank plenary meetings
WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb reached Washington on Sunday, where he will attend plenary meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) from Oct 13 to 18.
The meetings bring together global finance ministers, central bankers and development leaders, offering Pakistan a crucial platform to secure the next IMF tranche, advance economic reforms, and engage international partners on growth, investment, and resilience.
Aurangzeb’s visit comes after a IMF mission concluded talks with Pakistani authorities on reviews of two lending programmes totalling $8.4 billion without announcing a staff-level agreement (SLA).
Before leaving for the US, the finance minister had expressed optimism that the SLA with the IMF would be finalised next week during his visit to Washington.
Separately, Pakistani officials in Washington told media representatives that during the 2025 annual meetings, the delegation from Islamabad would focus on securing the third IMF tranche, meeting the remaining programme benchmarks and presenting verified flood-related loss estimates, with provincial contributions aligned to federal targets.
During Aurangzeb’s meetings in Washington, WB projects on climate adaptation, digitalisation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) along with infrastructure development, and engaging investors and rating agencies to strengthen confidence in Pakistan’s economic management will come under discussion.
The minister is also scheduled to participate in a regional round table meeting on the digital transformation of Pakistan’s tax system, organised by the WB. Monitoring Desk
