Overview

• After a Sept 24–Oct 8 mission to Karachi and Islamabad, both sides said they made significant headway but did not reach a staff-level agreement, and talks will continue with outcomes expected to be clarified during the IMF–World Bank meetings in Washington.
• The IMF praised strong program implementation and urged sustained fiscal consolidation, data‑dependent tight monetary policy, energy tariff adjustments and cost-cutting reforms, and measures to shrink the state’s footprint while improving governance and transparency.
• Reports from officials indicate a new deadline for Economic Coordination Committee sign‑offs to abolish two schemes and tighten a third within this month, positioning these steps as near‑term conditions.
• Investor sentiment improved following the IMF statement, with the KSE‑100 index rising by about 1,382 points as the Pakistan Stock Exchange rallied.
• Separately, some outlets citing unnamed intelligence sources reported the roughly $1 billion tranche is on hold over concerns about higher defence spending and opaque outlays, a claim not reflected in the official IMF statements.