IMF Team to Meet PTI Chairman Today to Seek Assurance Over Loan Program

A team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to call on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan today to solicit the party’s support over the standby agreement. In a tweet, PTI’s Hammad Azhar said that the party’s economic team has been approached by the IMF to solicit the party’s support for the $3 billion standby agreement and its broad objectives. “An IMF team will call on party chairman Imran Khan at Zaman Park this afternoon. Both PTI’s economic team and the IMF team will join, in person and virtually, to take part in the discussions,” Azhar added. Separately, IMF’s resident representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz, in a statement, said that IMF staff is in the process of meeting with representatives of the major political parties in Pakistan. “IMF staff are in the process of meeting with representatives of the major political parties in Pakistan, including PML-N, PPP, and PTI, to seek assurances of their support for the key objectives and policies under a new IMF-supported program ahead of the approaching national elections.” the statement added. It is pertinent to mention here that the IMF Executive Board is set to meet on 12 July to approve the disbursal of an initial tranche of $1.1 billion for Pakistan under the standby agreement. The IMF team also had a meeting with the finance team of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). A picture of the meeting was also shared by Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar. Qamar said that PPP agreed to support the program in larger national interest.