Islamabad, Oct 14 (IANS): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that a team will visit Pakistan in November to start the process for the next review of their current programme, the media reported.
The announcement was made at a press briefing here on Thursday by the IMF's Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Jihad Azour, reports Dawn news.
"The Fund has been very supportive of Pakistan. We have a programme with Pakistan that has been extended and increased in size. This is to help Pakistan deal with a confluence of shocks, starting with the Covid crisis where we provided additional flexibility.
We accelerated some of our disbursements to help Pakistan deal with recent shocks, such as the increase in prices of foods and commodities,
"Hopefully, we will be fielding a mission in November, after the annual meetings, to Pakistan to start" the process for the next review, Dawn new quoted the top official as saying.
He added that a team of the UNDP and World Bank were currently assessing the damages caused by the catastrophic floods, adding that the IMF was "waiting to see what are the repercussions on public finance, and the impact on the economy and the society".
"Based on this assessment, we will update our data and we will also (engage) with the authorities to see what their priorities are and how the Fund can help," Azour added.