Aamna Aamna 
The International Monetary Fund delegation led by Nathan Porter travels to Pakistan from March 3 to 14 to examine whether the nation fulfills its 37-month Extended Fund Facility conditions agreed in September 2024. The review serves as the key requirement to access the next $1.1 billion portion of the $7 billion IMF lending program.
Our senior official states that the scheduled deadlines included minor technical delays but all problems are now fixed. The performance review focuses only on the performance results from July to December 2024. The main weakness of the program was found in revenue failure to hit its targets because cotton and wheat yields dropped while industrial production struggled. Despite tax collection shortfalls, the government achieved better performance through increased profits from central bank activities and petroleum sales.
The Pakistani government successfully lengthened its debt term to more than 39 months which surpassed the objective of 32 months. The International Monetary Fund now expects Pakistan will grow by 3% during the current fiscal year. Even though the budget targets may not be met in February the officials remain optimistic about their results and discussions moving forward. Most of the 17 performance targets have been met yet the government knows they must work harder on retail tax expansions for the retail sector and Sovereign Wealth Fund amendments before year-end.
