IMF to seek assurances from Pakistan’s political parties on loan programme

KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seeking the support of major political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for a recently announced $3 billion bailout programme, the lender said 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.”

The country is scheduled to hold general 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.

Reuters