Islamabad June 29 2022: Pakistan equity index KSE-100 drops 620 points or 1.48% on news of delays in IMF payment as IMF wants further adjustments.
“IMF wants more prior actions before they even consider taking the proposal to their board. Rs 855bn PDL and 11% sales tax. Will push cost to Rs300+/litre. Immediate increase in electricity prices. Rs800bn provincial surpluses signed off by provinces, when they shown only Rs80bn.” Says former Pakistan Finance Minister Shaukat tarin.
Top government sources said these prior actions — which will be in addition to a series of structural benchmarks for the performance review — would be necessary for the Fund’s executive board to approve the merger of the seventh and eighth quarterly reviews of the 39-month, $6bn loan programme that originally began in July 2019.
In all probability, two tranches of about $918 million each (or $687m Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs) would be made available to Pakistan at once in the last week of July of the first week of August, the officials said.
