IMF On Asia's Growth

Tariffs could impede global trade, hamper growth in exporting nations, and potentially raise inflation in the United States, forcing the US Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy, despite

The IMF's unscheduled performance review discussions in Pakistan next week will primarily focus on the materialisation of new foreign loans to the country to fill nearly USD 2.5 billion in external financing gap for this fiscal year, according to a media report. The International Monetary Fund will assess Pakistan's external financing needs during these discussions, as some planned loans have not yet been secured, according to government sources. According to The Express Tribune newspaper, led by Nathan Porter, the IMF Mission Chief, the talks will formally begin on Tuesday, with an opening session also planned with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. The mission's arrival in Pakistan is unscheduled, as the first formal review for the release of the second USD 1.1 billion tranche is slated for March 2025. Pakistan faces delays in obtaining loans from bilateral creditors, complicating efforts to bridge its external financing gap. The Washington-based global lender previously estima

The new National People's Power (NPP) government in Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced its first reversal of a key element in the ongoing IMF bailout programme concerning the loss-making state-owned enterprises. The government reversed the Electricity Act, approved in June this year under then-president Ranil Wickremesinghe's government, introducing major reforms to the state power entity Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The Marxist NPP trade unions had then agitated against the bill. A CEB trade union leader who led the agitation is an NPP candidate in the parliamentary election scheduled for November 14. A CEB statement on Monday said the entity's privatisation programme would be scrapped and vowed to amend the CEB Reforms Act of 2024. It said there would be no privatisation of state-owned power plants, transmission and distribution processes. The CEB Reforms Act of 2024 paved the way for private sector competition in power generation. The move was aimed at easing the burden on publ

Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings has slated Friday for a possible report on France, which faces intense investor scrutiny at present. With its assessment one step higher than major competitors

The new 37-month deal, which will be Pakistan's 25th since independence, comes as the country faces loan repayments of about $24 billion this fiscal year, which started July 1

The South Asian island nation defaulted on its foreign debt in May 2022 after its economy was driven to the brink by a severe fall in foreign exchange reserves

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

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has pledged to step up policy support for the economy this year and promote a rebound in prices

This comes after incarcerated former PM Imran Khan penned a letter to the IMF, urging the global lender to give the poll results a thorough once-over before cutting any new cheques for Islamabad

With inflationary pressures "receding rapidly," prospects for a soft landing were improving in Asia, he said

Some see potential in the newly introduced passive option, other see promise in active ELSS

The IMF now expects emerging Asian economies to grow 4.4% this year and 4.9% in 2023, down 0.2 percent point and 0.1 point, respectively, from its projections in July, after a 7.2% expansion in 2021

The IMF is in the process of revising India's growth projection for 2022, which could be lower than its earlier forecast of 8.2 per cent, amid risks of a global stagflation, a senior official said

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Among other risks, the Fund cited geopolitical tensions, cyber attacks and climate change