Sharif discusses new loan programme with IMF chief

PAKISTAN prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has met IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and discussed a new loan programme to revive its economy.

In a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Special Meeting in Riyadh, the premier thanked Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, for her support to Pakistan in securing the $3 billion (£2.39bn) standby arrangement from IMF last year that was now nearing its completion.

Pakistan secured the $3bn IMF programme in June last year, which helped it avert a sovereign default.

The cash-strapped country is seeking a new long-term extended fund facility after the current standby arrangement expires this month.

“Both sides also discussed Pakistan entering into another IMF programme to ensure that the gains made in the past year were consolidated and its economic growth trajectory remained positive,” according to a statement issued by the prime minister's office on Sunday.

Sharif reiterated his government's commitment to put Pakistan's economy back on track.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Islamabad could secure a staff-level agreement on the new programme by early July.

Pakistan says it is seeking a loan over at least three years to help achieve macroeconomic stability and execute long-overdue and painful structural reforms, though Aurangzeb has declined to detail what size of the programme the country seeks.

If secured, it would be Pakistan's 24th IMF bailout.

The $350bn (£279bn) economy faces a chronic balance of payments crisis, with nearly $24bn (£19.15bn) to repay in debt and interest over the next fiscal year — three times more than its central bank's foreign currency reserves, according to Geo News.

This was the first meeting between the prime minister and Georgieva since his re-election last month, says state-run PTV News post on X. (PTI)