IMF team arrives in Pakistan to discuss ninth review
The Hindu
The four-day visit comes after Pakistani rupee dived to a historic low against the United States dollar recently
A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Islamabad to discuss the ninth review of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, which will start on January 31, ARY News reported.
According to a Pakistani television broadcast citing the sources, Pakistan and the IMF will hold technical talks for the first four days, wherein economic data from different departments will be reviewed.
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Earlier, the international fund organization’s Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz said: “At the request of the authorities, an in-person Fund mission is scheduled to visit Islamabad [from] January 31 to February 9 to continue the discussions under the ninth EFF review,” reportedDawn.
The Pakistani rupee has dived to a historic low against the United States dollar after an exchange cap was lifted as the cash-strapped country seeks the help from IMF.
Earlier, Pakistan entered a $6 billion programme in 2019 but later on, it increased to $7 billion. If everything goes well then the international organization would release $1.8 billion, which is still pending, according to Dawn.
It had earlier been put off for two months due to the Pakistan Muslim League-N-led government's unwillingness to accept certain conditions placed before it by the IMF, and the disagreements have yet to be resolved. However, it is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has indicated that the government is finally ready to swallow the bitter pill of the IMF's "stringent" conditions to revive the loan programme.
The decline in India’s net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, which have dropped almost 31% to $25.5 billion over the first ten months of 2023-24, is in line with the slowdown in such investments to developing countries, the Finance Ministry has said, while holding out hope for an uptick in investments this year.