WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the new bailout package for Pakistan will be finalised only after it fulfil the previous commitments made with the Fund.
IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice at a media briefing said the next step after the announcement of the staff-level agreement is implementation of the agreed prior actions by the authorities to prepare for the Fund's Executive Board's consideration of the loan request, tentatively scheduled for early September. However, he made it clear that this will be done provided the prior actions are met.
"The prior actions include the fiscal package, electricity price adjustments, launching of a tax reform initiative, certain central bank actions, and approval of the fiscal commitments by the Council of Common Interests (CCI)," Rice said.
When asked, did the IMF get any guarantees from the authorities in Pakistan that the programme won't go off track like it did before, the spokesperson said the Fund will move forward on the basis of commitments made by the government.
"When we move forward with these staff-level agreements, which we have done with Pakistan, they are, of course, on the basis of commitments made by the government. So, we're moving forward on that assumption." He said the next steps now include implementation of those agreed "prior actions," commitments. "So that's the next step."
On the other hand, the PML-N government has paid one more instalment of $25 million dollars to the IMF while three more instalments of the debt are due in August, the State Bank of Pakistan sources said.
Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves would be further depleted after payment of these instalments. Sources said that foreign reserves had already fallen below $10.5 billion.