ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will visit Pakistan on Nov 2 to discuss the first review of the country’s current $3 billion standby arrangement (SBA), the lender’s resident representative said on Tuesday.
The South Asian nation is trying to navigate a tricky path to economic recovery under a caretaker government in the wake of an IMF loan programme, approved in July, that helped avert a sovereign debt default. Under the programme, Pakistan received $1.2 billion from the IMF as the first tranche in July.
“An International Monetary Fund team led by Mr Nathan Porter will field a mission to Pakistan starting in November 2 on the first review under the current Stand-By Arrangement,” the IMF’s resident representative to Pakistan, Esther Perez Ruiz, told Reuters.
The visit comes as the IMF is pressing Islamabad hard to privatise loss-making state-owned enterprises amid reports of the caretaker government moving ahead with the plan when it comes to PIA – the national flag carrier.
Earlier on Monday, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a massive hike in gas tariff to meet one of the main conditions set by the IMF before the upcoming review that will decide when the second tranche of the $3bn deal is to be released.
Although there is no increase in gas prices for protected consumers, which constitute 57 per cent of the domestic consumers, the fixed monthly charges for them have been increased from Rs10 to Rs400 per month.
The changes in gas tariff to applicable with effect from Nov 1 will hit the non-protected consumers who are going to pay up to 194pc more through their monthly bills.
At the same time, the fixed monthly charges for non-protected consumers have been raised from Rs460 to Rs1,000 for the first category of up to 1.5 hm3 and from Rs460 to Rs2,000 for the second of 1.5 hm3.
On the other hand, the government has hiked the local gas tariff up to 136.4pc for commercial, 86.4pc for export, and 117pc for the non-export industry.
The move will help dealing with the circular debt issue as well as offsetting the rising cost of imported regassified liquefied national gas (RLNG) amid depreciation of rupee.
During the current month, the average sale price of RLNG for October has seen a 3.8 per cent increase when compared with September for the Sui Southern and Sui Northern as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) notified the decision on Tuesday.
