ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Saturday departed for the United States to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as Islamabad seeks to secure a new staff-level agreement under its ongoing loan programme.
The visit follows the conclusion of two weeks of review talks between an IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, and Pakistani officials in Karachi and Islamabad from September 24 to October 8.
The talks focused on the second review under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review under the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Despite progress, no staff-level agreement (SLA) was announced. Finance Minister Aurangzeb, however, said a day earlier that he was “optimistic” an agreement would be finalised during his Washington visit.
The Ministry of Finance said Aurangzeb will attend more than 65 events, meetings, and forums during his six-day visit.
His schedule includes bilateral meetings with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Banga, as well as engagements with senior officials from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
Aurangzeb is expected to meet top White House representatives and senior officials from the US Departments of State and Treasury, along with the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
He will also address the G24 and MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan) platforms, where he is slated to deliver a keynote speech.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Aurangzeb will hold policy-level talks with IMF officials to finalise Pakistan’s upcoming economic goals.
The discussions are expected to address post-flood economic challenges, including requests from provincial governments for more time to implement the agricultural income tax due to severe crop losses.
Meetings with global and regional leaders
The finance minister will attend two events hosted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and a World Bank-led regional roundtable on the digital transformation of Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), alongside tax authorities from other countries.
Aurangzeb is also scheduled to meet his counterparts from China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Azerbaijan, the ministry stated.
In addition, he will meet global credit rating agencies, investment banks—particularly from the Middle East—and members of the US-Pakistan Business Council to promote investment opportunities.
The Ministry of Finance said the minister would visit leading US think tanks, including the Atlantic Council and the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), to present Pakistan’s economic outlook.
