Pakistani authorities and the International Monetary Fund have reached an agreement on most major points and a final agreement is expected to be finalised on Thursday, according to sources.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told reporters Thursday afternoon that the government was going to announce ‘good news’ today. He said he was going to meet the IMF delegation later in the day and that the talks were ‘on the track’.

Pakistan and the IMF were holding the ‘final round’ on Thursday, he said.

The IMF team has been in Pakistan since the end of January and has engaged the country’s representatives in technical and policy level talks. The Pakistan authorities were reportedly been told that a draft of Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies (MEFP) will be prepared by Wednesday night, after which it could be signed by both parties on Thursday.

The Fund’s team also called on PM Shehbaz Sharif recently, with Ishaq Dar and other senior ministers also present. Sources said that the PM assured the IMF delegation that Pakistan would fulfill its agreements to the full.

Although IMF conditions are expected to be harsh, the government has assured the fund that it will comply. State minister for finance Aisha Ghaus Pasha has still tried to assure the general public that the government will try to put as little burden on the common man as possible.

THe IMF has agreed to lower its requirement for primary fiscal deficit numbers by Rs 475 billion, but made it conditional with the the government revealing details about flood relief expenditures. It has also asked the government to make details of civil servants’ assets public.

The Fund has also asked the government to rein in circular debt by ending fuel subsidies and improving tariff collection, a step that is expected to affect the common man.