ISLAMABAD – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Pakistani authorities made significant progress toward reaching a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) on the first review under the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
It was stated by the head of the IMF team Nathan Porter in a statement after visiting Islamabad and Karachi from February 24 to March 14, 2025, to hold discussions on the first review of Pakistan’s economic program supported by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and on a possible new arrangement under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
“Program implementation has been strong, and the discussions have made considerable progress in several areas including the planned fiscal consolidation to durably reduce public debt, maintenance of sufficiently tight monetary policy to maintain low inflation, acceleration of cost-reducing reforms to improve energy sector viability, and implementation of Pakistan’s structural reform agenda to accelerate growth, while strengthening social protection and rebuilding health and education spending,” he said.
Porter said progress has also been made in discussions on the authorities’ climate reform agenda, which aims to reduce vulnerabilities from natural disasters-related risks, and accompanying reforms which could be supported under a possible arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
“The mission and the authorities will continue policy discussions virtually to finalize these discussions over the coming days.
“The IMF team is grateful to the Pakistani authorities, private sector, and development partners for fruitful discussions and their hospitality throughout this mission.”
