Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb ne kaha hai ke Pakistan is haftay International Monetary Fund (IMF) ke sath apne qarz program ke review par ek preliminary deal sign karne ke qareeb hai, jisse IMF se $1.24 billion ke next installment ki raah khul jayegi.

IMF ka mission pichle haftay Pakistan se baghair “staff level agreement” sign kiye wapas chala gaya tha. Yeh review IMF ke $7 billion Extended Fund Facility aur $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility ka hissa hai, jo 2024 mein Pakistan ki maashi behtari ke liye tay hua tha.

Aurangzeb ne Washington mein IMF–World Bank annual meeting ke dauran Reuters se guftagu karte hue kaha:

“IMF mission ke sath hamari constructive discussions hui hain, aur hum umeed karte hain ke is haftay tak Staff Level Agreement finalize ho jayega.”

Unho ne kaha ke Pakistan green Panda bond (jo Chinese yuan mein hoga) iss saal ke end tak launch karega, jab ke agle saal international bond market mein kam az kam $1 billion ke bond issue karne ka plan hai.

“Euro, dollar, Sukuk — sab options open hain,” unka kehna tha.

Iske sath sath hukoomat privatization programme par bhi kaam tez kar rahi hai, jisme PIA aur teen power distribution companies ki sale par progress hui hai.

Aurangzeb ne bataya ke PIA ke liye ab qualified bidders samne aa rahe hain, khaaskar jab se airline ke Europe aur UK routes phir se khul gaye hain, jisse yeh deal investors ke liye “bohat attractive proposition” ban gayi hai.

Agar yeh deal finalize hoti hai to yeh Pakistan ki 20 saal mein pehli bari privatization hogi. Pehli koshish pichle saal fail ho gayi thi jab sirf ek low offer aayi thi, lekin ab Airblue, Lucky Cement, Arif Habib Group aur Fauji Fertilizer jaise major groups ne interest show kiya hai.

Final bids is saal ke end tak expect ki ja rahi hain.