IMF, Pakistan make significant progress on new loan: IMF mission

NEW DELHI: An International Monetary Fund(IMF) mission and

Pakistan

have made significant advancement toward obtaining a staff-level agreement on an extended

financial facility

, the global lender announced on Friday.
Following their arrival in Pakistan on May 13, an IMF team led by mission chief

Nathan Porter

concludedmeetings with the Pakistan government on Thursday, according to a statement, Reuters reported.
"The mission and the authorities will continue policy discussions virtually over the coming days aiming to finalise discussions, including the financial support needed to underpin the authorities' reform efforts from the IMF and Pakistan's bilateral and multilateral partners," Porter said.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion under the new scheme, as well as more IMF assistance through the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
Earlier, the IMF had asked Pakistani authorities to impose a tax on monthly pensions exceeding Rs 1,00,000 in a bid to garner the necessary legislative support to tax wealthy pensioners.