The International Monetary Fund team continues discussions with Pakistani authorities with the aim of quickly reaching an agreement on financial support from the IMF, said the mission chief.

“Over the past few days, the Pakistani authorities have taken decisive measures to bring policies more in line with the economic reform program supported by the IMF,” IMF Mission Chief to Pakistan Nathan Porter said in a statement sent to Aaj News via lender’s resident representative Esther Perez on Tuesday.

Aaj News had sought a response from the international lender on the deal, which the country hopes would be signed in a day or two.

Pakistan took some quick measures over the past few days to appease the international lender, with Rs215 worth of additional taxes, ending curbs on imports, raising the interest rate, and increasing petroleum product prices.

The measures, according to the IMF, included the passage of a budget by Parliament that broadens the tax base while opening up space for higher social and development spending. Moreover, steps towards improving the functioning of the foreign exchange market and tightening monetary policy to reduce inflationary and balance of payment pressures that affect particularly the more vulnerable.

“The IMF team continues discussions with Pakistani authorities with the aim of quickly reaching an agreement on financial support from the IMF,” Porter said.

The IMF’s $6.7 billion bailout package is due to expire Friday, with about $2.7 billion in loans yet to be given the green light. Under the $6.5 billion programme’s ninth review, Pakistan has been trying to secure $1.2 billion of funding that has been stalled since November.

But Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, was of the view that there was still no concrete comment from the IMF.

“The hopes have been revived through recent developments, but it would be important to see if IMF eases demands on the funding gap front,” he told Aaj News.

The IMF loans are crucial as the South Asian nation faces about $23 billion of external debt payments for the fiscal year starting July, more than six times its foreign-exchange reserves. Pakistan has a $1.6 billion debt payment coming due in July, including a $1 billion Chinese deposit that is typically rolled over.

“There is certainly progress and hopefully 9th review will be completed,” said Rauf

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told Geo News that the ruling alliance was working to find a mechanism to get the full $2.6 billion in pending finances under a loan programme. He described this amount as “unspent”.

He hoped that an agreement would be reached with the IMF for the release of the much-needed $1.2 billion tranche as the government was trying to “take out a way”.

Dar went on to add that assurance related to the external financing was not a prior action.

Revival of the loan programme would help the country tackle different challenges. Record inflation was making it harder for people to have a square meal and buy fuel.