No ‘Plan B’ when you are in an IMF programme: Finance Minister

According to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, there cannot be a “Plan B” while a country is part of an IMF programme. He maintained on Tuesday that holding discussions with the top lender in Washington for a second loan package was essential to guaranteeing economic stability.
Speaking at the annual Business Summit 2024 in an Islamabad hotel, he expressed hope that the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) would release $1.1 billion in the third and final tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The SBA expired on March 31.
By early July, the finance minister predicted that Pakistan will have a staff-level agreement with the IMF on a new, longer-term, larger loan. “We are still hoping that we get a staff-level agreement by June or early July.”