Islamabad (Commerce Desk) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission has expressed satisfaction with the briefing provided by State Bank officials as part of the fourth review talks with Pakistan.
According to sources, the IMF mission will travel from Karachi to Islamabad today for formal negotiations, while policy-level talks with the economic team will begin on Monday.
Sources in the Ministry of Finance said the IMF mission had been in Karachi for the past three days, where it held discussions with State Bank officials and the Sindh government.
The Sindh government briefed the federal government regarding the provision of a surplus budget and said that the province’s tax revenue stood at Rs593 billion as of June 30, while non-tax revenue doubled to exceed Rs80 billion.
According to sources, State Bank officials briefed the IMF mission on the country’s economic performance, foreign exchange reserves, monetary policy, imports and foreign exchange, on which the mission expressed satisfaction.
The briefing stated that the target of maintaining foreign exchange reserves above $17 billion had been achieved, while the mission was also informed about the current account deficit and an increase in foreign direct investment.