Pakistan likely to begin talks with IMF on staff-level agreement from June 30

• Miftah says govt is hopeful that the duration of IMF programme will be extended by a year.
• Pakistan received MEFP today, it will be scrutinised by country's economic team.
• Finance minister says authorities concerned will need at least two days to read document.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail Tuesday revealed that talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the staff-level agreement will “hopefully” begin on June 30.

Speaking to Geo News, Miftah said the government is hopeful that the duration of the programme will be extended by a year.

“The Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) was received today and the authorities concerned will need at least two days to read the document,” he said.

Earlier today, Mifath took to his Twitter and shared that Pakistan has received the MEFP from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.

This is a critical development signalling that the two sides have reached an agreement. The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to paving the way toward striking a staff-level agreement.

What happens after MEFP is received?

Now that Pakistan has received this document, it will be analysed and scrutinised by the country's economic team.

The finance minister and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor will then sign the framework if no major problem is found.

The staff-level agreement will then be presented before the IMF’s Executive Board for approval, after which the tranche will be released.

The MEFP may be considered the crux of decisions negotiated between Pakistan and the Fund because it includes policy actions and structural benchmarks the two sides agreed on.

During his address at the "Turn Around Pakistan" conference today, Miftah revealed that Pakistan could get $2 billion instead of $1 billion from the IMF.