Grateful to ‘friendly nation’ for assistance before IMF deal: PM

The prime minister added that the IMF deal would be finalised in a week to 10 days. The prime minister said that negotiations with the IMF would soon be successful but economic difficulty would still persist in the form of “very stringent” conditions by the Fund. Pakistan held 10 days of intensive talks with an IMF delegation in Islamabad — from Jan 31 to Feb 9 — but could not reach a deal. However, the bulk of tax measures worth Rs115 billion was already implemented from Feb 14 through statutory regulatory orders. A well-placed source had earlier informed that Pakistan and IMF will sign the staff-level agreement on Feb 28.