Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on getting the agreement done with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of the long-stalled Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that getting the IMF program revived was due to the “great teamwork” of both the Finance and Foreign Ministries.
He further said that the agreement “set the stage to bring the country out of economic difficulties.”
Congratulations to our Finance & Foreign Office teams led ably by Ministers Miftah Ismail & Bilawal Bhutto for their efforts in getting the IMF program revived. It was a great team work. The Agreement with the Fund has set the stage to bring country out of economic difficulties.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 14, 2022
Pakistan, IMF reach agreement
Earlier, the IMF issued a statement and said that Pakistan and the Fund finally reached a staff-level agreement to complete the combined 7th and 8th reviews of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an increased size of $7 billion.
According to the statement, the agreement remains subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board, and the staff team will prepare a report that will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.
The IMF team thanked the Pakistani authorities, private sector, and development partners for fruitful discussions and cooperation during the discussions.
At the same time, it also urged Pakistani authorities to stand ready to take any additional measures necessary to meet program objectives, given the elevated uncertainty in the global economy and financial markets.
