Islamabad: The calendar of another meeting of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been released.
Pakistan’s $7 billion loan program is not included in the calendar of IMF Executive Board meetings till September 18. The Executive Board will approve the 7th review of Sirinam on September 18. Earlier, the calendar of the meetings of the board on September 9 and 13 has also been released. The case of Bhutan is included in the meeting of the IMF Executive Board on September 9, while the case of Norway is included in the meeting of September 13.
According to sources, the staff level agreement between Pakistan and IMF was held on July 12. Pakistan is still facing difficulties in bridging the external finishing gap. Pakistan is likely to join the agenda once the pre-conditions are met. Pakistan is facing an external financing gap of 3 to 5 billion dollars. Pakistan has applied for a commercial loan of 1.75 billion dollars.
Sources further inform that Pakistan has requested a loan of 400 million dollars from the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, 350 million dollars from the Islamic Development Bank, and 1 billion dollars from Standard Chartered. Pakistan has also requested a loan of 1.2 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia, while efforts are ongoing with Saudi Arabia for an oil facility.
