Pakistan completed the International Monetary Fund’s benchmarks for maintaining the status quo in the energy sector, hopeful that the feat would help the cash-strapped nation get the next tranche of $1.2 billion from the global lending body, officials revealed.
The Ministry of Energy officials said that they managed to complete their end-December targets regarding the flow of circular debt below Pakistani Rs 385 billion, ensured a timely acceleration of electricity prices, and slowed down the rise in line losses, reported PTI citing the country’s domestic newspaper, The Express Tribune.
The IMF officials are expected to visit Pakistan to review the loan conditions and implementation of the targets set during the loan negotiations as part of the second review of the $3 billion bailout package. The global body is expected to visit the country by February end or early March, if the government formation is complete at the federal and provincial levels.
The newspaper stated citing sources that the increase stood at Pakistani Rs 378 billion, against the IMF’s condition to cap the circular debt flow to Pakistani Rs 385 billion. “Pakistan has committed to the IMF that it would contain the circular debt at June 2023’s level of Pakistani Rs 2.31 trillion by the end of this fiscal year,” it reported.
Notably, a senior official at the IMF recently said that they were ‘looking forward to working with the new government in Islamabad’, however, the official made no mention of the jailed former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s demand that IMF should look into conducting an audit of the results of the elections before signing off on any new loan for the country.
Pakistan remains heavily reliant on the IMF. The lending body has provided 2 tranches of loan so far and the last tranche worth $1.2 billion is estimated to be delivered by March end or early April.
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