IMF board to take up 6th review on February 2

January 26, 2022 (MLN): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board will now meet on February 2, 2022, for Pakistan's sixth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), the IMF board’s updated calendar showed recently.

Earlier, Pakistan has asked the IMF to delay a board meeting meant to consider the country's sixth review until the end of January as Pakistan was then unable to pass the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 which is necessary for the fund's release.

Considering the request, the board had postponed the review of its $6 billion loan programme scheduled for January 12 and expected to take place between Jan 28 to 31.

The spokesperson to Finance Minister Muzzammil Aslam said that the approval of the two bills, Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 and State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021, is necessary to ensure that the sixth review of the country’s $6bn Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the IMF’s Executive Board.

“As soon as the legislative procedures are completed, the IMF board will consider it for approval,” the spokesperson said.

As per the latest development, Pakistan has accomplished one of the conditions as per which the Finance Supplementary Bill has recently been passed from parliament. However, the second condition for passing the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill 2021 is still under the process as the National Assembly has approved but the assent of the Senate is still required.

To recall, Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) authorities had reached a staff-level agreement in November 2021, on policies and reforms needed to complete the sixth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Completion of the review would make available SDR 750 million or about $1.059 billion, bringing total disbursements under the EFF to about $3,027 million and helping unlock significant funding from bilateral and multilateral partners.

Copyright Mettis Link News