Miftah departs for Washington to hold talks with IMF

Newly appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has left for Washington DC to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The development comes after the federal cabinet on Wednesday granted approval to remove Miftah Ismail’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

“I am off to Washington DC to try and put back on track our IMF program that PTI (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf) and Imran Khan derailed, thus endangering our economy,” said Miftah in a tweet post on Thursday.

The minister expressed delight that after 3 years of being on the ECL, “I will get to travel to London on the way and meet my leader Mian Nawaz Sharif”.

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Miftah will hold talks with the IMF on the Fund's seventh review of the EFF during his visit. He is also expected to meet the IMF MD, along with high-ups of G7 countries, the World Bank executive director and finance ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Prior to leaving for Washington, Miftah told reporters his priority would be to ensure the release of the $1 billion tranches of the Fund programme. The State Bank of Pakistan's governor Reza Baqir is already in Washington for talks with IMF officials.

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The revival of the IMF programme is essential for Pakistan's economy, which is facing a depleting foreign exchange reserve raising concern over debt repayment. In the event of successful negotiations with the international lender, Pakistan is expected to receive $1 billion in funds. The programme revival could also pave the way for the South Asian country to attract other international creditors to meet its funding needs.