KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation that arrived in Pakistan this week has left for Turkiye amid surging tensions in the Middle East, a finance ministry official said on Tuesday, confirming that discussions with Islamabad will continue virtually in the days ahead.
The IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, had started talks with Pakistani officials on the third review of a $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) multi-year program and for the second review of the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) this week.
The IMF delegation, which arrived for preliminary discussions on the EFF and RSF programs, relocated following security directives as tensions in the Middle East surged following the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US and Israel.
“The IMF team has moved to Istanbul after special instructions were issued to them due to the volatile security situation in the region,” a finance ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media, told Arab News.
The Pakistani official said the IMF delegation came to Islamabad for a day and met Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb “for some of the key discussions.” The official confirmed the IMF team will continue the rest of the talks with Pakistani authorities virtually from Istanbul.
