ISLAMABAD: At the opening of an unplanned official visit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan authorities on Monday stuck to budgeted revenue targets and promised to overcome first quarter shortfalls through enforcement and administrative measures.

Informed sources told Dawn that the visiting fund staff, led by mission chief to Pakistan Nathan Porter, initiated discussions on revenue situation with Pakistani team, led by Minister of State for Revenue Ali Pervez Malik and Federal Board of Revenue chairman Rashid Mehmood Langrial.

The mission will stay here until Nov 15 “to discuss recent developments and programme performance to date”, according to informed sources. “This mission is not part of the first review under the extended fund facility (EFF), which will be no earlier than the first quarter of 2025,” they said.

Under the programme modalities, the IMF and Pakistan authorities are required to hold biannual review meetings. As such, first formal review has to take place on the basis of end-December 2024 performance for Pakistan to qualify for disbursement of second installment of over $1bn by March 15, 2025. The $7bn programme is divided into six........

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