Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said they have agreed to all of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions for its bailout package, and about $1.1 billion will be released urgently.
“I am confirming that the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) draft has been received by us at 9 am today,” the finance ministry said citing the minister, adding, “We will completely go through the [MEFP] over the weekend and will hold a virtual meeting with [Fund officials]. It will take a few days.”
The MEFP is a document describing all the conditions, steps, and policy measures that the two sides will use as the basis of their staff-level agreement.
Thee conditions reportedly include: "Imposing taxes amounting to 170 billion Pakistan Rupees, minimizing untargeted subsidies in the gas and energy sectors, ensuring that there is zero addition to the gas sector’s circular debts, raising the petroleum development levy on diesel to Rs50 through two Rs5 hikes on March 1 and April 1 and an increased allocation of BISP to Rs 400bn,” reported Pakistani daily Dawn.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accused the IMF of harsh strong-arming reforms on the country to revive its $7 billion loan package.
"Our economic challenge at this moment is unimaginable. The conditions we have to fulfill [to complete the IMF review] are beyond imagination," Sharif stated.
However, the IMF bailout is crucial for the South Asian nation. Currently, its foreign reserve is hardly enough to sustain three weeks. On Friday, multiple media reports said that the country ran out of fuel and many petrol pumps were closed.
Pakistan is witnessing high inflation, which hit 27.5% year-on-year in January.