The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that it had made “significant progress” toward reaching a staff-level agreement (SLA) in its talks with Pakistani authorities.

An IMF mission led by Iva Petrova met with Pakistan’s economic team in Karachi and Islamabad from September 24 to October 8 to review the implementation of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.1bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The programme’s performance as of the end of June this year — the period under review — has been mixed.

Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had urged the lender to take into account the recent flood damage in its review for the country.

In a statement released early on Thursday, the Fund quoted Petrova as saying, “The IMF mission and the Pakistani authorities made significant progress toward........

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