ISLAMABAD – Pakistan seek loan tranche from IMF after successful finalrounds of talks.

The second and final round of talks in this quarter of the year between thefederal government of Pakistan and a staff mission of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) are scheduled to resume from today in Islamabad.

In the meeting, the IMF will be provided briefing on tax collection by theFederal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) from July till December till year.

The IMF’s mission has arrived in Islamabad to conduct the first quarterlyreview of Pakistan’s performance under its $6bn Extended Fund Facility(EFF) finalised in May this year.

The successful completion of the first review would enable Islamabad todraw about $453 million from the Fund in first part of December this year,taking the total amount to almost $1.44bn. The IMF had made in July thisyear an upfront disbursement of $991 million on completion of all prioractions committed by Pakistan before signing the fund programme.

Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will lead Pakistanidelegation comprising of finance secretary, the governor of the State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) and the chairman of the FBR.

The visiting team led by Mission Chief to Pakistan Ernesto Ramirez-Rigowill hold policy-level discussions. He has already hold talks withauthorities from all the ministries, divisions and departments concerned toexamine the latest data before winding up its trip on Nov 7.