Saudi Arabia, UAE inform IMF on financing to Pakistan: Finance Minister
–Says all conditions for staff-level agreement with IMF met

ISLAMABAD, Apr 24 (NNI): Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue
Senator Ishaq Dar has said that the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) have intimated to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
on financing to Pakistan.

The minister said Saudi Arabia had conveyed to the IMF $2 billion
financing to Pakistan while the UAE had confirmed support of $1 billion.
This was the Government of Pakistan had met all the conditionalities of
the IMF for the revival of the loan agreement, he added.

The Finance Minister has said that all preconditions for an Staff Level
Agreement (SLA) between Pakistan and the IMF have now been implemented.

The Finance Minister has expressed the hope that the International
Monetary Fund will finalize the staff-level agreement with Pakistan soon
and present it to the IMF executive board for approval.

Last week, the Pakistan government shared a financing plan for another
Rs3 billion with the IMF, as reportedly, there is a possibility of
receiving funds from commercial banks, including World Bank and the
Asian Infrastructure Bank.

Pakistan’s finance minister had earlier held a virtual meeting with
Martin Raiser, South Asia Vice President of the World Bank.

The meeting was part of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings 2023 held in
Washington, said a Finance Ministry news release.

The minister informed the WB vice president about the completion of
World Bank-supported reforms, especially those supported under the
Resilient Institutions Strengthening Programme-II (RISE), under which
major reforms like harmonization of GST had been completed.

He thanked the World Bank team for supporting Pakistan on flood
rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Speaking on the occasion, Martin Raiser appreciated Pakistan’s efforts
on ensuring expeditious processing of all flood related projects.

He thanked the Pakistani side on completing reforms under the RISE
programme which would contribute to ensure macroeconomic stability in
the country.