{"id":74343,"date":"2024-03-23T02:30:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pakistan-to-discuss-eff-program-with-imf-next-month-daily-times\/"},"modified":"2024-03-23T02:30:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:30:04","slug":"pakistan-to-discuss-eff-program-with-imf-next-month-daily-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pakistan-to-discuss-eff-program-with-imf-next-month-daily-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan to discuss EFF program with IMF next month – Daily Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"The matter of an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be discussed in Washington next month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday, as the country looks to alleviate a full-scale economic crisis.<\/p>\n

The standby $3 billion arrangement with the global lender expires on April 11, and the two sides reached a staff-level agreement regarding the disbursal of the final tranche of $1.1 billion earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have expressed our strong interests in an Extended Fund Facility with the IMF, but the quantum is not clear yet,\u201d Aurangzeb said at a media briefing, adding that the lender was \u201cvery receptive\u201d to the request.<\/p>\n

The US has also been \u201cvery supportive\u201d in the matter, the minister said.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after he was sworn in for his second consecutive term, had directed his finance team to begin work on seeking an extended fund facility from the IMF. He termed a long-term bailout from the IMF \u201cinevitable\u201d on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The IMF had also said it would support formulating a new economic program for the country if it asks for one.<\/p>\n

The global lender\u2019s rescue package last summer had helped avert a sovereign default but, to secure it, the country had to revise its budget, and raise interest rates, taxes, and electricity and gas prices. As a result, during the period, Pakistan struggled through inflation as high as 38%, historic depreciation in its currency, and contraction of the economy.<\/p>\n

Pakistan will also look to bonds in the international market to help stabilise its economy, Aurangzeb said at Friday\u2019s briefing, adding that, in the meantime, work is being done on panda bonds. \u201cOnce our credit rating improves, we will be going to the international market for bonds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The finance minister has been keen to capitalise on the relationship with China and had earlier also expressed his intention to tap into the Chinese bond market. In an interview to Bloomberg on Friday, he said Pakistan plans to sell as much as $300 million in panda bonds this year.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The matter of an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be discussed in Washington next month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday, as the country looks to alleviate a full-scale economic crisis. The standby $3 billion arrangement with the global lender expires on April 11, and the two sides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dailytimes.com.pk\/assets\/uploads\/2024\/03\/4286111-972216172.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t