The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the third review of its Extended Fund Facility and the second review of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility, with the country receiving a disbursement of about $1.2 billion.
A day earlier, the IMF provided Pakistani authorities with the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) after finalising key outlines of the 2026–27 budget, while also urging more frequent revisions in oil prices.
Pakistan and the IMF exchanged drafts of the MEFP to reach a staff-level agreement for the third review and the release of the fourth tranche under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.4 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), The News reported.
The IMF had sought a budgetary and fiscal framework for the 2026-27 budget, envisaging the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s tax collection target of Rs15.08 trillion.
The current fiscal year’s FBR target has been revised downward from Rs13.79 trillion to Rs13.4 trillion for the end of June 2026. Earlier, the target had been reduced from Rs14.13 trillion to Rs13.79 trillion.
The IMF has also requested Islamabad to readjust petroleum, oil, and lubricant (POL) prices more frequently. The government had recently moved from reviewing prices fortnightly to weekly adjustments.
The IMF seeks faster price resets, reflecting fluctuations in international markets.
It must be noted that Pakistani authorities are negotiating with the IMF to determine an appropriate timeframe for more frequent adjustments, but it remains unclear whether the Fund expects changes twice a week or on a daily basis, an official said.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
