PM Shehbaz hopeful for deal with IMF this month

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated Monday that he was “very hopeful” of striking an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.

PM Shehbaz’s hopeful deal with IMF: “We are still very hopeful that the IMF program will materialize,” the premier stated in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency in Ankara. We will meet all terms and conditions for our ninth IMF review, and perhaps we will hear some positive news this month.

Sharif attended the inauguration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

The prime minister claimed that Islamabad had fulfilled all requirements. He emphasized that they have satisfied all the IMF requirements due to earlier measures.

This time, we completed certain measures demanded by the IMF before the board’s approval, whereas normally, those actions are completed after the board’s approval.

As he attributed the current crisis to the previous administration’s actions, PM, Shehbaz claimed that his government has dealt with a wide range of issues since April 2022.

According to the premier, the government of the time had broken the terms of the IMF deal, and Pakistan was on the verge of default in April 2022.

“Then, in August 2022, we experienced severe floods. In addition, the worldwide situation is causing our inflation to soar.

Pakistan’s Resilience in the Face of IMF Negotiation Challenges

The premier emphasized Pakistan’s nation’s resiliency and grit when discussing Pakistan’s choices if negotiations with the IMF fall through.

He said, “We shall “tighten our belt” and rise again.

Difficulties in securing the requisite funding commitments to close the balance of payments shortfall have caused the postponement of the ninth review of Pakistan’s IMF bailout program since November, and negotiations at the staff level have been dragging on.

Earlier, Pakistan claimed to have collected $3 billion in commitments—$2 billion from Saudi Arabia and another billion from the UAE—but sources indicated that the total was just about half of what the lender had requested.

The Pakistani central bank has not yet received the deposits.