Pakistan seeks loan tranche from IMF after successful final rounds of talks. The second and final round of talks in this quarter of the year between the federal government of Pakistan and a staff mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to resume from today in Islamabad. In the meeting, the IMF will be provided a briefing on tax collection by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) from July till December till a year. The IMF’s mission has arrived in Islamabad to conduct the first quarterly review of Pakistan’s performance under its $6bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) finalized in May this year. The successful completion of the first review would enable Islamabad to draw about $453 million from the Fund in first part of December this year, taking the total amount to almost $1.44bn. The IMF had made in July this year an upfront disbursement of $991 million on completion of all prior actions committed by Pakistan before signing the fund program. Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will lead Pakistani delegation comprising of finance secretary, the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the chairman of the FBR. The visiting team led by Mission Chief to Pakistan Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo will hold policy-level discussions. He has already held talks with authorities from all the ministries, divisions and departments concerned to examine the latest data before winding up its trip on Nov 7.