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Pakistan and the IMF on Wednesday reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) on the country's loan programmes, paving the way for Islamabad to access USD 1.2 billion, pending approval from the global lender's board. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide Pakistan with USD 1 billion under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and USD 200 million under its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) after approval from the fund's board. Last week, an IMF mission led by Iva Petrova concluded talks with Pakistani authorities on the second review of the EFF agreed in 2024 and the first review for the RSF climate loan agreed this year, but it left Pakistan without signing a staff-level agreement. In a statement issued early on Wednesday, Petrova stated that the staff-level agreement remained subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board. Supported by the EFF, Pakistan's economic programme is entrenching macroeconomic stability and rebuilding market confidence, she ..
The US and global economies will grow a bit more this year than previously forecast as the Trump administration's tariffs have so far proved less disruptive than expected, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, though the agency also said the extensive duties still pose risks. The United States' economy will expand 2 per cent in 2025, the IMF projected in its influential semiannual forecast, the World Economic Outlook. That is slightly higher than the 1.9 per cent forecast in the IMF's last update in July and 1.8 per cent in April. The US should grow 2.1 per cent next year, also just one-tenth of a per cent faster than its previous projection, the IMF said. Its current forecasts are still down from a year ago, however, a sign that the international lending agency expects the tariffs to weaken the US economy, in part by creating more uncertainty for businesses. Last October, the IMF forecast the US would grow 2.2 per cent this year. All the projections also represent a ...
Pakistani officials are hopeful for the finalisation of a staff-level agreement (SLA) with the IMF during Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb's upcoming visit to the US, according to a media report on Friday. The finalisation is subject to consensus on the external account and verified flood-related losses, as well as their fiscal adjustment across central and provincial accounts, the Dawn newspaper reported. These issues are expected to be finalised during the upcoming IMF-World Bank annual meetings, where the Pakistani delegation, led by the finance minister and including the SBP governor and FBR chairman, will depart this weekend. Official sources confirmed to the paper that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had shared the draft Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) with the authorities before a visiting mission left Pakistan after two weeks of engagements. The IMF team visited Karachi and Islamabad from September 24 to October 8 to discuss the second review .