ISLAMABAD : Pakistan is expecting to conclude consultations with the International Monetary Fund to sign a staff level agreement as soon as this week, the country's finance secretary said.
The IMF mission spent more than a week in Islamabad earlier this month in discussions over a policy framework to unlock over $1 billion in funding. "The consultations with the IMF are in the final stages. We expect to conclude the consultations soon, even within the week," Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, the top official in the finance ministry, told Reuters.The IMF will release the tranche after the agreement is signed and approved by its board. The release of the funds has been suspended since late last year over policy issues.
The IMF funding as part of a $6.5 billion bailout is critical for the South Asian economy that is facing a balance of payments crisis, with its central bank's reserves dipping as low as to cover less than three weeks of imports.