A “Literally Grilled” IMF Team Pakistan Says It Has Achieved Lender’s Objectives: Report

The Pakistani finance ministry announced in its official handout that they had met all structural benchmarks and other targets before the global lender could start its review. This infuriated the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team to Pakistan, headed by mission chief Nathan Porter and his other colleagues.

It voiced displeasure with the declaration made by the finance minister of Pakistan, which said that all structural benchmarks, quantitative objectives, and suggestive targets had been met before the IMF personnel had had a chance to carefully examine and finish the evaluation.

Porter and his colleagues were in Pakistan to finish the evaluation process for the $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA) program, which they had just started. They planned to make recommendations only after reviewing official data from many sectors of the country’s economy.

In an official handout, the Pakistani finance ministry said on Wednesday that all structural benchmarks and other criteria had been fulfilled.

In the first review discussion session, reports from The News and GeoTV said that the finance ministry team was practically grilled by the review mission. It also said that the Pakistani authorities had no idea how to react.

In response, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s recently appointed finance minister and the former CEO of Habib Bank Ltd., the country’s largest bank based on deposits, said he had taken notice of the situation and that it would never happen again.

In order to complete the second review and come to an agreement on the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) began talks. The last tranche of $1.1 billion is anticipated to be released in front of the Fund’s Executive Board during the second week of April 2024.

It is impossible to exclude a mini-budget, according to an official. As the IMF may recommend boosting the rates of various taxes, particularly the General Sales Tax (GST), in order to immediately raise more funds, it cannot be ruled out that there will be a small budget at this time. The News cited authorities as stating, “It will only become affirmative if the FBR faces any shortfall in achieving the tax collection target.”

The likelihood of attaining the quarterly goal from April to June—which is essential for reaching the PKR 9,415 billion yearly tax collection target—was also reviewed by the IMF delegation and the finance minister.

Furthermore, they emphasized how critical it is for the energy industry to develop a strategy plan in order to address the persistent problem of cyclical debt accumulation.