Nov 16(ABC): Negotiations over the next tranche in the extended fund facility for Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are expected to commence before the end of November.
This was confirmed on Wednesday by senior officials of the Federal Finance Ministry who had intricate knowledge of the developments. The officials however, requested not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Previously, a five-day meeting scheduled to be held in the third week of November between the financial authorities in Islamabad and the global lender were postponed.
The meeting was delayed after IMF asked Islamabad to present a complete report on expenditures incurred by the government on account of flood relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
Finance ministry officials, however, were of the view that the internal political situation of the country had a bearing on the timing of the meeting
Now, the IMF mission is expected to travel to Pakistan for the ninth economic review by the end of this month.
The officials went on to say that while the IMF has been insisting that Islamabad greatly enhance the tax to GDP ratio, they expressed skepticism on being able to raise an additional Rs800 billion through tax measures.
The official added that they were currently in the process of exchanging economic data with IMF.
Moreover, the official said that Pakistan has made some requests to the IMF to ease some targets, including with regards to stringent requirements on fiscal deficit.