ISLAMABAD: Formal negotiations between Pakistan's government and a visiting International Monetary Fund staff mission began Monday over the fourth review of a $7 billion Extended Fund Facility and the third review of a Resilience Support Facility.
Officials said the mission, led by Iva Petrova, will stay nearly two weeks, until the first week of October, to conduct both reviews.
Pakistan is in the second year of a 37-month IMF program aimed at stabilizing its economy through fiscal discipline, structural reforms and measures to support long-term growth.
If the reviews are completed successfully, Pakistan will be eligible to receive about $1 billion, or 760 million Special Drawing Rights, under the EFF and another $200 million under the RSF by late November or early December — a total of $1.2 billion.
Separately, Khurram Schehzad, an adviser to the finance minister, said Sunday that the government is not buying aircraft for Pakistan International Airlines, which was privatized through an auction in December.
"The government is neither buying aircraft for a privatised PIA, nor has it announced any sovereign guarantee of taxpayer-funded loan for doing so," Schehzad posted on X after social media claims that a minister was negotiating sovereign-linked financing for the jets.
The claims followed a recent meeting between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and John Jovanovich, chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, on the sidelines of the 81st U.N. General Assembly session in New York.
The finance ministry said the two discussed the Reko Diq mining project and funding opportunities for procuring aircraft for PIA. Aurangzeb expressed PIA's interest in Boeing's 787 Dreamliners and sought support for a financing package covering aircraft and engines.
Schehzad noted that the U.S. Exim Bank's mandate, like that of export credit agencies elsewhere, is to support its country's exports and jobs.
"Boeing aircraft are US exports. US Exim provides financing support to foreign purchasers of US-manufactured aircraft, including airlines, through established financing structures," he said.
He added that the bank's framework allows for asset-backed aircraft financing, in which loans can be secured against the aircraft itself and credit is assessed on the airline or lessee and any guarantor, meaning a sovereign guarantee is not automatically required.
Schehzad said Aurangzeb's discussions with U.S. Exim were not limited to PIA and covered potential financing for aviation, refinery upgrades and Reko Diq as part of broader Pakistan-U.S. economic engagement.
