ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has begun discussions with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation on the reviews of Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
The IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, is holding talks with Pakistani authorities on the country’s progress under the two programmes and the implementation of agreed economic reforms.
During the discussions, the IMF team was briefed on a digitised asset declaration system covering around 10,000 federal government employees, according to a report.
The system is aimed at improving transparency in the declaration and monitoring of assets held by public officials.
The ongoing talks are expected to cover Pakistan’s fiscal performance, revenue collection, public-sector reforms, structural benchmarks and other commitments under the IMF programmes.
The IMF mission has been in Pakistan since September 23 and has held meetings with officials from the finance ministry, Federal Board of Revenue, Establishment Division and provincial finance departments.
The review is significant for Pakistan as successful completion of the IMF assessments would pave the way for further disbursements under the EFF and financing linked to the RSF.
The two sides are expected to continue technical-level discussions before reaching an understanding on the outcome of the reviews.
