——– Govt likely to exclude 168 provincial development schemes from the upcoming budget
——– Finance Minister reaffirms govt’s commitment for reforms to IMF
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to remove provincially mandated devel-opment projects from its federal development budget, urging adherence to constitutional responsibil-ities defined under the 18th Amendment.
The federal government is expected to exclude 168 provincial development schemes from the upcom-ing budget, sources told media.
The total cost of these projects amounts to Rs1,100 billion, of which Rs300 billion has already been spent.
The IMF has directed that no further federal funding be allocated to these projects, which are consid-ered the responsibility of provincial governments. Completing the remaining work would require an estimated Rs800 billion, which the IMF says should now be financed through provincial development budgets.
The demand reflects the IMF’s broader push for fiscal discipline and clarity in federal-provincial ex-penditure responsibilities as Pakistan continues to negotiate economic reforms under its loan pro-gramme.
Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb departed for New York earlier this week ahead of key engagements in Washington, where he is expected to raise the issue of rescheduling guaranteed debt with his Chinese counterpart. The discussion is set to take place on the sidelines of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund’s (IMF) spring meetings.
According to government sources, Aurangzeb is also scheduled to meet with the IMF Managing Direc-tor and a senior official from the U.S. Treasury Department during the visit.
Earlier, Amid efforts to stabilise the economy and improve financial indicators, Federal Finance Minis-ter Muhammad Aurangzeb has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reforms in a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, media reported on Tuesday.
During a meeting with the IMF chief on the sidelines of the WB/IMF Spring Meetings 2025 in Washing-ton, FinMin Aurangzeb expressed gratitude for the Staff-Level Agreement on the First Review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a new arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facili-ty (RSF). The meeting comes against the backdrop of the finance czar’s visit to Washington where he is set to hold key meetings having notable significance in relation to the country’s economic revamp ef-forts.Last month, Islamabad reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout programme of $7 billion.
The new 28-month deal would support Pakistan’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The country, upon approval by the IMF board, will have access to approximately $1 billion under the EFF, bringing total disbursements under the programme to around $2 billion.
