Aurangzeb sees IMF staff-level agreement on $1.2b payout this week

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is poised to sign a staff-level agreement (SLA) on a review of its loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said.

Last week, an IMF mission led by Iva Petrova concluded talks with Pakistani authorities on reviews of the implementation of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.1bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The programme’s performance as of the end of June this year — the period under review — has been mixed.

“During the course of this week, we’re hoping that we can get the SLA done,“ Aurangzeb told a foreign media outlet during an interview on the sidelines of the IMF World Bank annual meeting in Washington.

“The mission was on the ground for a couple of weeks, we had very constructive dialogue with them around the quantitative benchmarks, the structural benchmarks, and we’ve been having some follow-up discussions,” the finance minister said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Aurangzeb met with IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department Director Jihad Azour and discussed Pakistan’s reform agenda. Before leaving for the United States, the finance minister had expressed optimism that the SLA would be finalised during his visit to Washington.

The SLA is a key step required to pave the way for another $1.24 billion payout from the lender. Countries under IMF lending programmes need to pass regular reviews, which, once signed off by the Fund’s executive board, trigger a payment of the next tranche of IMF funding.

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb expected the government would launch a green Panda bond — the first one denominated in Chinese yuan for Pakistan — before year-end and return to international markets next year with a bond sale of at least $1bn, though details were still to be decided.

“Euro, dollar, Sukuk, Islam Sukuk — we’re keeping our options open,” he said.

Aurangzeb meets with IMF, World Bank delegations

Aurangzeb and IMF’s Azour held delegation-level talks in Washington, where they exchanged views on Pakistan’s reform agenda, a press release by the finance ministry said.

The ministry said Aurangzeb had a “busy first day” of his official visit to the United States, attending high-level meetings on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank (WB) annual meetings. “The finance minister and his delegation had a key meeting with Azour. Both sides exchanged views on Pakistan’s reform agenda and reaffirmed their shared commitment to sustaining the current momentum of reforms,” the press release said. Monitoring Desk