IMF Staff to Visit Pakistan Next Week to Discuss Current Program Ahead of 2025 Review

Intentional Monetary Fund (IMF) staff, led by Nathan Porter, will travel to Pakistan between November 11-15 for a Staff Visit to discuss recent developments and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program performance to date. Top officials told ProPakistani that this mission is not part of the first review under the $7 billion EFF, which will be no earlier than the first quarter of 2025. Sources said that during the visit IMF staff will hold meetings with the Finance Minister, the chairman Federal Board of Revenue, the State Bank of Pakistan and other concerned ministries including Energy. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs. 877 billion during October 2024 against the assigned target of Rs. 980 billion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs. 103 billion. FBR has collected Rs. 3,440 billion during the first four months of 2024-25 against the assigned target of Rs. 3,636 billion set for July-October of the current fiscal year, reflecting a shortfall of Rs. 196 billion. The IMF staff is expected to discuss the revenue shortfall and may ask the government for more measures to bridge the revenue gap. The government closed the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2024-25 with the overall budget balance of Rs. 1.696 trillion equivalent to 1.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Further, the government achieved a primary balance of Rs. 3.002 trillion, equivalent to 2.4 percent of GDP.