Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb held a kick-off meeting on Tuesday with a visiting staff mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Aurangzeb → hold → Fund
The IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, is in Islamabad for the fourth review of Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement and the third review of the $1.4bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
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mission → lead → Facility
Aurangzeb, in a virtual meeting, briefed the IMF team on the latest macroeconomic indicators, improvements in credit rating and overall investment climate amid a challenging outlook emanating from prolonged Iran conflict.
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Aurangzeb → brief → conflict
On the successful conclusion of talks, Pakistan will be entitled to disbursement of about $1.2bn under the two programmes: $1bn under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF by the end of October or early November, but may require waivers from the IMF’s executive board for slippages on structural benchmarks.
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Pakistan → entitle → benchmarks
The authorities are in continuous breach of structural benchmarks regarding the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) law that was originally missed in March.
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that → regard → March
The federal government already notified new procurement rules on Monday, two days ahead of the deadline, ie, Sept 30.
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government → notify → deadline
The SWF law is part of the discussions with the visiting IMF team.
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law → visit → team
Authorities are in breach of an end-March 2026 structural benchmark on amendments to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act to adopt governance mechanisms and safeguards for seven state-owned enterprises (SOEs), involving an asset portfolio of about $8bn.
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Authorities → adopt → 8bn
Most of them are blue-chip entities listed on the stock exchange but remain outside normal reporting requirements.
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Most → list → requirements
They include OGDCL, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Mari Petroleum, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Govt Holdings, Pakistan Development Fund, and the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project.
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They → include → Pakistan
The amendments are pending parliamentary approval.
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amendments → pende → approval
It spent the initial days in Karachi for engagements with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders.
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It → spend → Pakistan
The staff mission has so far held engagements with officials from SBP, the finance ministry, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Establishment Division, and the finance secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
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mission → hold → Pakhtunkhwa
New procurement rules
Against this backdrop, the government notified the Public Procurement Rules 2026 to promote greater transparency and competition in public procurement while keeping certain exemptions for direct contracting with SOEs and limiting the bidding to national firms.
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government → notify → firms
The IMF had certain reservations over the preferential treatment of SOEs for direct contracting.
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IMF → have → contracting
Rule 32 of the new rules provides that a procuring agency may engage through EPADS (E-Pak Acquisition and Disposal System, a digital system developed and enforced by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority) to manage and administer the process of procurement in direct contracting with SOEs for the procurement of such works and services, including consultancy services, which are time-sensitive, scattered, remotely located and in the public interest or in case of urgency and provided they do not sub-let those contracts initiated prior to the commencement of the new rules continuing under the 2004 framework.
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they → provide → framework
The new rules make the use of EPADS mandatory for public procurement and disposal by federal procuring agencies, provide for the establishment of dedicated procurement cells, and introduce mechanisms to discourage conflicts of interest through third-party validation, evaluation, and pre-shipment inspection for large procurements.
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use → make → procurements
The new rules further strengthen the enforcement mechanism through the provision of blacklisting and cross-debarment, independent grievance redressal committees with an appellate mechanism at PPRA to clearly identify material deviations and mis-procurement, including deliberate procurement outside EPADS, failure to constitute prescribed committees, tailor-made specifications, violation of advertisement and response-time requirements, and failure to follow prescribed evaluation criteria.
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rules → strengthen → criteria
The rules allow other efficient methods of procurement such as gallop tendering and alternative procurement methods, including shopping and negotiated tendering, subject to specified conditions.
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rules → allow → conditions
Efficiency measures have been embedded in the framework, reducing response times, shortening standstill periods, and streamlining tender processing cycles to enable faster contract awards.
The rules also emphasise sustainable procurement, encouraging inclusiveness of SMEs and marginalised groups, and aligning procurement practices with environmental policy.
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rules → embed → policy
The Aporia
