Finance Minister hopes to complete first review of SBA with IMF

ISLAMABAD: The Caretaker Finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar portrays hopefulness of the successful completion of the first review of the Stand By Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The finance minister on Monday, in an interaction with the media, highlighted the satisfactory performance of all institutions involved in implementing the lender’s targets for the current program.

She emphasized that negotiations with the IMF have been progressing positively, with the economic team actively engaged in the process.

Finance minister said that she will participate in policy-level talks with the lender, underscoring her dedication to achieving successful negotiations with the IMF.

She expressed satisfaction with the recent developments in her meetings with both the IMF and the economic team.

Sources said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has insisted on a detailed report on the financial losses incurred by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during the first quarter of the ongoing financial year.

The Finance Ministry has appealed to the lender for an extension on the request, with a commitment to provide the comprehensive report by December 2023. 

Sources also said that the IMF mission has made it clear that they would not accept outdated data on the financial performance of the SOEs, underscoring the importance of having the most recent and precise statistics for relevant assessment.

The IMF delegation has also inspected the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU), which is responsible for assessing the losses incurred by government-owned enterprises. This inspection is part of the broader effort to improve data accuracy and reporting.

Furthermore, the IMF mission has called upon the CMU team to deliver their initial assessment report as soon as possible. Notably, the team is currently scrutinizing newly acquired data related to SOEs, with the expectation that this task will be completed expeditiously.

During the negotiations, the caretaker government submitted a report that included data up to the year 2020. This report revealed staggering losses incurred by SOEs, mainly DISCOs, Pakistan International Airlines, and Pakistan Steel Mills, totaling approximately Rs. 500 billion.

It is pertinent to note that the talks with the IMF commenced late last week with both sides sharing critical data for fast-tracking the ongoing review. So far, the lender has focused mainly on Pakistan’s fiscal framework for 2023-24, with an emphasis on converting Pakistan’s primary deficit into a surplus.

The IMF has also sought a monthly collection plan from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for Rs. 6.667 trillion of the remaining revenue during the current fiscal year.