Pakistan, IMF formally begin talks on EFF, climate programme reviews

Tm— Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan (@Financegovpk)September 29, 2026The IMF began discussions with Pakistan for the fourth review of the country’s $7 billion economic programme, along with the third review of Islamabad's $1.4 billion climate resilience programme.

Successful completion of both reviews could pave the way for around $1.2 billion in financing for Pakistan, including about $1 billion under the economic programme and $200 million under the climate facility. Beginning thetalks from Karachiearlier this month, the monetary body began Article-IV consultations – a comprehensive and deeper dive to gauge the health of Pakistan's economy.

On the opening day of talks, the IMF had a bird's-eye view of Pakistan's macroeconomic outlook and the external sector situation in the light of the. Middle East conflictand its implications for Pakistan's economy, discussions.

They said that the IMF would seek the federal government's perspective on the macroeconomic outlook during its visit to Islamabad. Read:Fin. Min reviews reform progress with IMF leadership, reaffirms commitment to economic transformation.

The successful culmination ofthe IMF talkswould result in a recommendation to the board for the release of $1.2 billion worth of two tranches and publication of a comprehensive Article-IV report, which would become the base for any future engagement with Pakistan.

However, sources said that the IMF's concerns remained about the lack of implementation of structural reforms aimed at improving the governance of state-owned enterprises, continued market interventions and the lack of transparency in the budget with reference to large statistical discrepancies. The government surpassed the IMF's condition to produce a primary budget surplus – calculated after excluding interest payments.

However, the IMF raised concerns about Rs853 billion in statistical discrepancies, the sources added. The global lender is expected to hold detailed meetings on the discrepancy in accounts of the last fiscal year, they added.

Pakistan had missed the condition that the five governments would cumulatively spend Rs3.47 trillion on health and education. The condition had been missed by a wide margin of Rs370 billion. This could prove one of the difficult points for Pakistani authorities.

Earlier this month, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgievaexpressed satisfactionwith Pakistan’s economic reform programme, saying the implementation of the government’s reform agenda helped achieve macroeconomic stability. Georgieva said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government had made progress through a strong reform programme, which had contributed to improvements in fiscal discipline, external reserves and investor confidence.