Pakistan, IMF begin talks for fourth EFF, third RSF reviews

ISLAMABAD  –  Finance and Revenue Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday held a kick-off meeting with a visiting staff mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF delegation, led by Iva Petrova, is in Islamabad to conduct the fourth review of Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme and the third review of the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmad, Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Rashid Langrial and Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani also participated in the virtual meeting.

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During a virtual meeting, Aurangzeb briefed the IMF team on the latest macroeconomic indicators, improvements in Pakistan’s credit rating and the overall investment climate amid a challenging outlook resulting from the prolonged conflict involving Iran.

Upon successful completion of the talks, Pakistan is expected to receive around $1.2 billion under the two programmes — $1 billion under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF — by the end of October or early November.

However, Pakistan may need waivers from the IMF’s Executive Board over slippages in some structural benchmarks. Pakistan has already received $4.8 billion under the two arrangements.

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The IMF mission has been in Pakistan since September 23, initially spending several days in Karachi for meetings with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders.

So far, the mission has held discussions with officials from the SBP, Ministry of Finance, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Establishment Division, as well as the finance secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

In the ongoing talks, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) briefed the IMF mission on the impact of the Gulf conflict on tax collection and expressed confidence that the agreed first-quarter revenue target of Rs3.053 trillion would still be achieved by September 30, 2026.

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According to sources, the FBR is expected to collect around Rs1.330 trillion in September, against the monthly target of Rs1.343 trillion.

Tax authorities informed the IMF mission that the anticipated September collection would allow the FBR to meet its overall July-September revenue target of Rs3.053 trillion.

FBR officials explained that disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz following the Gulf conflict had driven up fuel prices and slowed economic activity in Pakistan, adversely affecting tax collection. The Establishment Division and tax authorities also briefed the IMF mission on the digitisation of the Asset Declaration Scheme under Section 15-A of the Civil Servants Act, 1973.

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The government informed the Fund that around 10,000 federal civil servants would be required to declare their movable and immovable assets under the mandatory scheme.

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