*ISLAMABAD: *Finance Minister Asad Umar hoped to secure nearly $22 billionpackages from three multilateral agencies in the next three years.
This includes $8 billion for IMF, $7 billion each from World Bank and AsianDevelopment Bank.
“At the request of the (Pakistani) authorities, an IMF mission will begoing to Pakistan before the end of April to continue the discussions,”said a statement of Office of the Resident Representative of the IMF.
It added that the Pakistani authorities and the IMF staff held constructivediscussions during the IMF-World Bank (WB) Spring Meetings in Washington DCtowards an IMF-supported programme.
Hours before the IMF communiqué, Umar told the National Assembly StandingCommittee on Finance and Revenue that Pakistan and the IMF have inprinciple reached an agreement on all policy matters.
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But the finance minister refused to divulge details of the IMF conditions,saying it could ‘jeopardise the negotiations’. After the committee meeting,the minister did say the electricity prices would go up “due to idlecapacity payments left behind by the PML-N [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz]government.”
“Both the sides have documented the agreement and an IMF mission wouldarrive in Islamabad this month to sort out technical details. The expectedsize of the IMF loan will be $7.5 billion to $8 billion,” Umar added. Thedates of the IMF visit will be finalised in the next couple of days.
Umar said the agreement has been achieved on the budget deficit, exchangerate management, energy sector, state-owned enterprises, and public financemanagement.
