IMF

But the Bank of America team which prepared the report, also said that China, a close ally, can rescue Pakistan because of its close ties with the country, reports Dawn news. The bank's team of experts, which includes its economist Kathleen Oh, wrote: "China holds the key for relief in the near term as it is the largest creditor. With closer ties between China and Pakistan, the hope is rising for China to come on board to provide a backstop to its long-time ally."

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday informed Parliament that the government received a letter of assurance from the Chinese Exim Bank on Monday night and the letter of intent signed by the Central Bank Governor and himself was sent to the IMF immediately.

CBSL Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe told a press conference on Friday that the CBSL and the IMF have been engaging continuously in intensive negotiations on the monetary policy stance amid extraordinarily high inflation and a high degree of uncertainty surrounding inflation projections and the near term outlook.

The Pakistani officials are baffled by IMF's "shifting goalposts" as the country makes hectic efforts to woo the lender which has set new conditions to unlock the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) signed in 2019, Geo News reported. The cash-strapped country is undertaking key measures to secure a $1 billion tranche from the IMF under the ninth review of the EFF.

The IMF has changed interpretations of at least four prior actions ahead of rea ching a staff-level agreement (SLA) on the direly needed economic bailout, reports Dawn news. Sources say the authorities are extremely annoyed at the latest situation, describing it as 'maltreatment'. "We are members of the IMF, not beggars or else our membership be discarded," commented a disgruntled senior official.

The country's military establishment has been asked by the government to provide a plan on how they can cut their non-combat expenditure, given the nature of the severe economic crisis. Experts say that while terrorism and groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and others continue to carry out coordinated attacks in different parts of the country.

The statement was given after a question was raised on why the IMF is delaying its funding programme to Pakistan, despite the fact that the country is on the verge of an economic meltdown and was still suffering from last year's catastrophic floods which had affected at least 33 million people. "My heart goes out to the people of Pakistan. But the Pakistan government needs to collect higher taxes by withdrawing subsidies to the rich," said Georgeiva.

Addressing an event organised by a private university in Colombo, the president said the Sri Lankan economy is now stabilising and it will be able to begin the debt restructuring process soon, Xinhua News Agency reported. Wickremesinghe added that the country needs to have political stability to carry out the debt restructuring process.

The FIA completed a preliminary inquiry into Tarin's audio leaks and saw his leaked conversations as an 'attempt to disrupt' the IMF loan programme and funds, thereby 'causing harm' to the national interest, Dawn reported. The probe agency sought approval of the Interior Ministry to initiate legal proceedings against Tarin, leading to his arrest, the media outlet reported, citing sources.

Pakistan is direly banking on the success of the talks between the IMF team and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to not only approve the review, release the pending tranche, but also to save the country from sinking into an economic meltdown. The IMF review mission is headed by its chief Nathan Porter, who called on Dar on Tuesday and expressed hopes that Pakistan would meet the lender's requirements in time.