Still short of IMF ‘all clear’, govt puts on brave face

The government put on a brave face amid a stalemate on securing a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), needed to avert a nearing sovereign default, as the two sides remained short of concluding external financing estimates and precise domestic fiscal measures. A clear roadmap on external financing and domestic budgetary steps, coupled with substantial energy cost adjustments, should have led to sharing of a draft Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies (MEFP) by the visiting IMF mission with the authorities at least a day before scheduled conclusion of talks on February 9. “As of Wednesday night, we have not received the draft MEFP,” said a senior government official, adding Fund’s “reservations on final plan of action both in terms of fiscal measures and external funding sources were still there”. The gap estimated by the IMF is on the higher side of $6bn for the current fiscal year. Minister of state claims both sides ‘close to finalisation’; official says yet to receive draft memorandum “We are very close to the finalisation,” said Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha while talking to journalists. She said the MEFP would be handed over to Pakistan by the IMF once all issues are finally settled. She said a lot of things had been settled and they required clarity on some of them that the government team was trying to address.