The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will consider Pakistan’s request for waivers of nonobservance of performance criteria, and for extension, augmentation, and rephasing of access.
According to the IMF Executive Board Calendar, the combined seventh and eighth reviews under the extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will be held on August 29.
According to sources, all the members of the Fund’s executive board have received copies of the staff report required to complete the process. The documents shared with the board also include the letter of intent. Pakistan will also submit documents related to prior actions and priorities.
The waivers will likely be regarding the primary deficit and monetary targets either related to net domestic assets (NDA) or net international reserves (NIR) target.
The international lender had reached the staff-level agreement (SLA) with the Pakistani authorities for the conclusion of the combined seventh and eight reviews of the EFF-supported program back in July.
Subject to Board approval, about $1,177 million (SDR 894 million) will become available, bringing total disbursements under the program to about $4.2 billion.
Additionally, in order to support program implementation and meet the higher financing needs in FY23, as well as catalyze additional financing, the IMF Board will consider an extension of the EFF until end-June 2023 and an augmentation of access by SDR 720 million that will bring the total access under the EFF to about $7 billion.
It is expected that the IMF deal will include strict conditions related to governance and steps to curb corruption.
At the time of the staff level agreement, the policy priorities included strengthening governance. IMF said that the Pakistani authorities are establishing a robust electronic asset declaration system and plan to undertake a comprehensive review of the anticorruption institutions (including the National Accountability Bureau) to enhance their effectiveness in investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
