IMF loads $7 billion package with 11 new conditions for govt

This is the second such condition that the government has accepted in the present programme, as even the previous budget had been approved under the directives of the IMF.

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21 Apr 2026

In addition to the other conditions, the IMF added around 12 more conditions in its $7 billion bail out package. Among the conditions are approval of the new budget by the National Assembly according to the terms of the agreement reached and amendments in the laws for special economic and technology zones.

It has been agreed by the government to IMF that the Parliament will approve the fiscal year 2026-27 budget on the basis of the IMF staff agreement with respect to the targets under the $7b programme.

This is the second such condition that the government has accepted in the present programme, as even the previous budget had been approved under the directives of the IMF.

Government officials informed that an agreement at the level of the staff between Pakistan and the IMF in the last month was made possible after adding another 11 conditions in the bail-out programme.

After adding 11 conditions during the third review of the $7b programme, there are now 75 conditions that the IMF has imposed during the last two years in different economic, governance and business sectors.

According to sources, Pakistan had informed the IMF that it would present the budget that had been fiscally consolidated and that it will not be aiming at growth in the next fiscal year. This assurance was made by Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, when he was meeting the IMF’s deputy managing director on the sidelines of his visit to Washington.

According to sources, Pakistan had agreed to the IMF's stipulation that before the month of June 2027, it would introduce an amendment to the SEZ Act and STZA to phase out the fiscal incentives that have been granted thus far and adopt cost-based instead of profit-based incentives.

Further, the country would also amend the two Acts to remove the power of the Board of Approvals, Board of Investment, and SEZ Authorities to give any further tax incentives. This change would satisfy the IMF that by the year 2035, no more incentives would remain for STZs.