KARACHI: Pakistan is making good progress with the International Monetary Fund and hopes to get board approval in September for a new $7 billion loan program, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday. Pakistan and the IMF reached an agreement on the 37-month loan program in July. The IMF said the program was subject to approval from its executive board and obtaining “timely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners”.

“We are making good progress with IMF for Board approval in September,” said Aurangzeb in text message to Reuters. Pakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China to meet gross financing needs under the IMF program, Aurangzeb said in July following a trip to China to seek energy sector debt reprofiling. Rollovers or disbursements on loans from Pakistan’s long-time allies, in addition to financing from the IMF, have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past.

The IMF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Pakistan’s external financing needs and the executive board’s meeting on Pakistan’s loan program. During an analyst briefing following the central bank’s decision in July to cut rates by 100 bps, the central bank chief said he expected rollovers of $16.3 billion in the fiscal year to June 2025 - more than half of Pakistan’s $26.2 billion external financing requirement. – Reuters