Overview
- An IMF–Pakistan staff-level accord announced Saturday would free about $1.2 billion under the Fund’s Extended Fund Facility and Resilience and Sustainability Facility once conditions are met.
- A core prior action requires the Federal Board of Revenue to collect Rs322 billion from recent court rulings, mostly super-tax cases that also carry late-payment surcharges.
- Pakistani officials say most disputed sums have been recovered and they aim to complete the target to seek an Executive Board meeting in early May, as the government forms a task force to strengthen FBR litigation.
- The IMF kept pre-war budget goals in place, including a FY26 primary surplus of 1.6% of GDP and an underlying 2% target in FY27, with a push to broaden the tax base and curb spending.
- The Fund warned the Middle East war could push up inflation and strain the external account, so it wants the central bank ready to raise rates and allow the rupee to move, while urging cost-covering power tariffs and targeted cash aid through BISP.