IMF to hold meeting with PTI chief on bailout deal

Islamabad: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seeking support of  Pakistan’s political parties, including former  Former Prime Minister of  Pakistan, for a recently announced $3 billion bailout programme, an IMF official said in a statement on Friday.

The IMF’s resident representative Esther Perez Ruiz said in a statement that the meetings with political parties were to “seek assurances of their support for the key objectives and policies under a new IMF-supported program ahead of the approaching national elections.”

Pakistan is scheduled to hold national elections by early November. The new bailout programme, a nine-month stand-by arrangement, is going to be taken up by the lender’s board on July 12.

The development was confirmed by PTI’s Hammad Azhar on Twitter.

PTI's economic team has been approached by the IMF to solicit the party's support for the USD 3 BN Stand-By Agreement and its broad objectives.
An IMF team will call on Party Chairman Imran Khan at Zaman Park this afternoon. Both PTI's economic team and the IMF team will join, in…

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) July 7, 2023

“An IMF team will call on Party Chairman at Zaman Park this afternoon,” he wrote on Twitter.

Both PTI’s economic team and the IMF team will join, in person and virtually, to take part in the discussions.