Page 3 - International Monetary Fund

Pakistan likely to hike taxes in budget to bolster chances of IMF loan

"Everyone will have to contribute in this economy because schools or universities or hospitals can run with philanthropy but countries can only run through taxes," Pak Finance Minister Aurangzeb said

Sri Lanka has made 'strong progress' on debt restructuring front, says IMF

Sri Lanka's macroeconomic policy reforms have started to "bear fruit" and the country is expected to reach agreements with external commercial creditors soon, the IMF has said ahead of the second review of it's USD 2.9 billion bailout programme to the cash-strapped country. Addressing a press conference on Friday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Communication Department Director Julie Kozack asserted that Sri Lanka has made "sufficiently strong progress on the debt restructuring front". She said that the island nation's programme performance is "strong", with most quantitative and structural conditionality for the second review met or implemented with delay, adding that reforms are still ongoing in some areas. The second review of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility under the USD 2.9 billion bailout of Sri Lanka has been set for June 12. Kozack confirmed that the IMF's Executive Board will meet to discuss the second review and the Article IV Consultation. Under Article IV of the IM

Pakistan abandoned

Hard economic decisions will help its future

IMF, Pakistan make considerable progress on extended loan facility

The IMF has opened discussions with Pakistan on a new loan programme after Islamabad last month completed a short-term $3 bn programme

What is China doing to support its property market? All you need to know

China had 391 million square meters (4.2 billion square feet) of completed and unsold homes at the end of April, equivalent to 6.6 Manhattans, official data show

IMF issues warning of significant downside risks for Pakistan's economy

This uncertainty, it warns, could have profound effects on policymaking, particularly given the high cost of living and other political complexities

Pak to seek rollover of $12 bn debt to meet target before IMF team arrives

Pakistan has decided to seek a rollover of around USD 12 billion debt from key allies like China in the 2024-25 fiscal year to meet a whopping USD 23 billion worth of gap in its external financing as the federal government aims to achieve budget targets before the expected arrival of an IMF team to the cash-strapped country. According to the Finance Ministry insiders, USD 5 billion from Saudi Arabia, USD 3 billion from the UAE and USD 4 billion from China will be rolled over, adding that the estimate of further new financing from China would also be included in the next financial year's budget, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. Pakistan will receive more than USD 1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the fresh loan programme, whereas new financing from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank has also been included in the estimated budget. According to the Finance Ministry sources, new loan programme agreements will be made with financial institutions. Th

Strong capex, domestic demand behind India's growth performance: IMF

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the interim budget, proposed to raise the capital expenditure target by 16.9 per cent to a record Rs 11.11 trillion for FY24-25

IMF approves immediate disbursal of $1.1 billion loan tranche to Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund has approved an immediate disbursal of USD 1.1 billion to Pakistan as part of a bailout package and said the country needs to take tough measures to bring its economy back on track. A decision in this regard was taken by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board as it completed the second and final review of Pakistan's economic reform programme supported by the IMF's Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). With this development, the disbursements under the SBA reached around USD 3 billion. IMF's Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh said, "Given the significant challenges ahead, Pakistan should capitalize on this hard-won stability, persevering -- beyond the current arrangement -- with sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to create stronger, inclusive, and sustainable growth." Continued external support will also be critical, she said. Achieving strong, long-term inclusive growth and creating jobs require accelerating structural .

Sri Lanka approves IMF-backed law to seize any proceeds from crimes

The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) will allow for the judicial freezing and forfeiture of proceeds of crime and establishes a new authority to manage such seized assets

Trade fragmentation

India must adjust to emerging trends

IMF team to visit Pak in May to negotiate new bailout package: Aurangzeb

Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that an IMF team is expected to visit Islamabad next month to negotiate a new long-term bailout package to secure a staff-level agreement for the cash-strapped country by mid-July. Speaking to the media after his week-long visit to Washington, the minister said the contours of the new International Monetary Fund programme will shape up later. "We will start getting into the granularity of the programme by mid-May, Dawn News quoted Aurangzeb as saying on Saturday. Cash-strapped Pakistan has made a formal request to the IMF to seek the next bailout package in the range of USD 6 to USD 8 billion with the possibility of augmentation through climate financing. Addressing journalists at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, Aurangzeb expressed the hope that the global lender's board of governors would convene to consider the last tranche of the current programme by the end of this month, with the final instalment released shortly ...

Cash-strapped Pak makes formal request to IMF for another bailout

Pakistan has made a formal request to IMF for seeking the next bailout package in the range of USD 6 to USD 8 billion with the possibility of augmentation through climate financing, a media report said on Saturday. Cash-strapped Pakistan also requested to dispatch the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review mission next month to firm up details of the next bailout package for three years under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). However, the exact size and timeframe of the new package will only be determined after evolving consensus on the major contours of the next programme in May 2024, Geo News reported from Washington. A high-level Pakistani delegation led by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is currently visiting Washington to attend the annual spring meetings of the IMF/World Bank. Although Pakistani authorities are pitching a rosy picture of the economy, the IMF in its latest Regional Economic Outlook (REO) released by Middle East and Central Asia (ME and CA) said the ...

Role played by India during G-20 presidency appreciated at IMF meeting

During the annual Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank there was a widespread appreciation of the role played by India during its G-20 presidency in building consensus on a range of key global issues, a top Indian official has said. India hosted the G20 Summit in New Delhi from September 9-10. The summit adopted a 37-page consensus declaration overcoming major differences on the Russia-Ukraine war and took several steps to ensure the stability of the global economy. There is a widespread appreciation of Indian presidency of the G-20 in building consensus on several issues, relevant for global deployment, conducted of various meetings during the presidency as well as the leaders' summit, Ajay Seth, Economic Affairs Secretary told PTI on Friday on the sidelines of the annual sprint meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Due to the ongoing Lok Sabha election, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is not attending the annual IMF and World Bank ...

IMF praises India for maintaining fiscal discipline in election year

For the demographic dividend to be reaped, India has to invest a lot in education and health

Ready to support cash-strapped Pak to improve its economic situation: IMF

The International Monetary Fund is ready to support cash-strapped Pakistan in key reform to help the country improve and stabilise its economic situation. Currently, Pakistan has expressed interest in a new programme in order to help the country address some of the key challenges, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF told reporters here on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. The current programme that was initiated ten months ago allowed Pakistan to achieve a certain number of important milestones in terms of economic stability, he said. The last review was successful and will be put forward to the board, which will end a programme that helped Pakistan address acute economic imbalances and maintain its economic stabilities, the IMF official hoped. Those measures also allowed Pakistan to increase its buffers. Currently, the authorities have expressed interest in a new programme in order to help Pakista

Climate change, war, poverty biggest challenges: World Bank's Ajay Banga

There was no shortage of stressors to the global economy when Ajay Banga took charge at the World Bank almost a year ago: inflation eating at nations drowning in debt, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, climate disasters and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Factor in the Israel-Hamas war and rising tensions between powerful nations, and today's agenda is even fuller as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings in Washington this week. The world's intertwined challenges of poverty which clearly we have seen great setbacks over the past few years combined with fragility and conflict and violence, combined with climate change, is coming into a perfect storm, Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We need to put all of our efforts into this. Banga highlighted new initiatives being announced at the meetings, including plans to provide 300 million people in Africa with electricity by 2030 and 1.5 billion people worldwide with health care .

IMF's Georgieva warns of global economic concerns including inflation, debt

She said countries could help their economies by slashing bureaucratic red tape and getting more women into the job market

IMF ready to support Sri Lanka's discussions with int'l bondholders

Sri Lanka will consult with the IMF to assess if the latest proposals discussed with bondholders were within the parameters of its bailout program

Shifting expectations

No respite from US inflation and geopolitical tensions