Business

Miftah Ismail says Pakistan could get $2 billion from IMF

Published

3 years ago

Farwa

Miftah Ismail says may receive $2 billion instead of $1 billion from IMF.
Pakistan receives MEFP from IMF for seventh, eighth reviews.
This critical development signals two sides have reached an agreement.

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said Tuesday that Pakistan could get $2 billion instead of $1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The finance minister made the comments during his address at the “Turn Around Pakistan” conference after he confirmed Pakistan has received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.

This is a critical development signalling that the two sides have reached an agreement. The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to paving the way towards striking a staff-level agreement.

Early this morning, the Government of Pakistan has received an MEFP from the IMF for combined 7th and 8th reviews.
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) June 28, 2022

Now that Pakistan has received this document, it will be analysed and scrutinised for three days by the country’s economic team.

The finance minister and State Bank of Pakistan governor will then sign it if no major problem is found.

The staff-level agreement will then be presented before the IMF’s Executive Board next month for approval, after which the tranche will be released.

The MEFP may be considered as the crux of decisions negotiated between Pakistan and the Fund because it includes policy actions and structural benchmarks the two sides agreed on.

Pakistan reached IMF accord after US help: sources

Earlier, sources had said Pakistan reached the accord with IMF with the “help” of the United States, as Islamabad made major progress on the discussions held with the lender regarding the federal budget for fiscal year 2022-23.

Speaking on Geo News programme Geo Pakistan, anchor Shahzad Iqbal said that according to his information, Islamabad did get benefit from reaching out to the US because IMF’s attitude earlier was very rigid and the Fund was putting harsh conditions and probably would have refused to close a deal with the country.

However, the anchorperson added, the US pressure made this possible for Pakistan, but there were still no concessions in conditions.

Major progress in talks with Pakistan: IMF

Last Tuesday, the Pakistani authorities and the IMF evolved a broader agreement on budget 2022-23 to revise upward the Federal Board of Revenue’s target and slash expenditures to achieve a revenue surplus in the next fiscal year.

The next day, IMF Resident Representative to Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz said that discussions between the Fund and Pakistan are underway and major progress had been made regarding the budget.

Business

Pakistan Desires a Sturdy, Long-Term Alliance With Huawei: PM

Published

22 hours ago

Bilal

According to Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the government’s primary objective is to give Pakistani youth technical training in the field of information technology.

The prime minister expressed his desire for a strong and long-term collaboration with Huawei in an interview with a five-member delegation that visited him in Islamabad and was led by Huawei CEO Ethan Sun.

He said the Huawei’s ICT training program will not only increase it exports but will also help youth in getting job opportunities.

The meeting was briefed on the progress made in providing training in the it sector to 300,000 pakistani youth organized by Huawei.

Out of 300,000 youth, 240,000 youth will be provided basic training while 60,000 youth will be provided high-tech training.

Business

The IMF allows Pakistan to lower electricity tariffs.\

Published

23 hours ago

Bilal

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has permitted the Pakistani government to decrease the energy cost by one rupee.

The alleviation will be incorporated into the base tariff for electrical units, with funding sourced from revenue collected by the levy on captive power plants. A tax has been enacted on the utilization of gas by captive power plants.

The government is developing a relief plan for electricity consumers, which will be announced upon clearance from the international lender.

Business

Robust purchasing sustains PSX’s positive trend

Published

23 hours ago

Bilal

On Thursday, bullish momentum continued in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 index reaching 118,806 after an increase of over 300 points.

Across the board buying was observed in key sectors, including commercial banks, fertiliser, power generation, and oil and gas exploration companies.

Aside from that, index-heavy equities such as MARI, POL, HBL, MCB, UBL, KOHC, and LUCK experienced gains, capitalizing on the prevailing bullish atmosphere in the market.

Market analysts attribute the recent bullish trend in the PSX to a staff-level agreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities following the initial review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a new arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

Furthermore, a recent study done by the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) regarding the feasibility of the Reko Diq project in Balochistan has also conveyed favorable indications to investors.

The bulls surged rapidly after the staff-level deal with the global lender, with the KSE-100 Index reaching a peak of 118,220 before closing at 117,178 points, reflecting an advance of 1,139 points on Wednesday.