The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated on Wednesday that Pakistan’s timely completion of a recovery plan following devastating floods is crucial to support discussions and ongoing financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.
Pakistan was already battling a full-blown economic crisis, with decades-high inflation and dwindling foreign exchange reserves, when it was hit by floods earlier this year. It had entered a $6 billion IMF bailout programme in 2019, and the ninth review is currently pending.
“The timely finalisation of the recovery plan is essential to support the discussions, along with continuing financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners,” IMF’s resident representative in Islamabad, Esther Perez Ruiz, said in a message to Reuters.
She added that IMF staff is continuing discussions with authorities over policies to reprioritise and better target support towards humanitarian needs, while accelerating reform efforts to preserve economic and fiscal sustainability.
