Pakistan, IMF extend talks to conclude SBA review
With an apparent understanding reached during the final review of the $3 billion Standby Arrangement, the visiting staff mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities agreed on Monday to extend talks overnight to conclude the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP). The finance ministry had earlier announced the schedule of review talks ending on March 18. However, informed sources said that the two sides had hectic sector-wise meetings, which were impacted by reduced working hours due to Ramazan, thus spilling a couple of agenda items over to Tuesday (today). The final wrap-up meeting, customarily represented by the finance minister, will now take place on Tuesday and the letter of intent (LoI) and MEFP on behalf of the minister and the governor of central bank will be finalised the same day. “Most of the work on the documentation is already complete,” an informed source said.