Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday confirmed that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will visit Pakistan in early March for its biannual review of the $7 billion bailout deal.

Pakis­tan and the IMF had reached a three-year, $7 billion aid package deal in July, with the new programme set to allow the country to “cement macroeconomic stability and create conditions for stronger, more inclusive and resilient growth”.

The ongoing 37-month Extended Funded Facility programme consists of six reviews over the life of the bailout, and the release of the next tranche of approximately $1bn will be contingent on the success of the performance review.

Raising the tax-to-GDP ratio is crucial for Pakistan’s $7bn loan deal to stabilise its economy and manage debt. In 2024, the salaried class became the third-largest income tax contributor, trailing banks and petroleum but surpassing textile exporters.

While speaking to reporters, Aurangzeb confirmed that the team will assess the federal government’s progress on key conditions.

“Reforms regarding people processed technology in the FBR [Federal Bureau of Revenue] will continue with the same spirit and resolve,” he highlighted, adding that “reforming SOEs [state-owned entities] and moving forward with the privatisation agenda” were steps in the right direction.

He also stated that the country’s exports will be incentivised, however border control will be “tightened”, adding that sugar — for the first time — was exported and not smuggled into Afghanistan.

“We need every single dollar for our own country,” he said.

A separate technical mission from the IMF has also arrived in Islamabad today on Pakistan’s request for over $1bn in additional financing for climate resilience.

Pakistan has been ranked as the most vulnerable country to climate change in 2022 when it faced devastating monsoon floods that claimed over 1,700 lives, washed away swathes of agricultural land, affected 33 million people, and incurred losses worth $33bn, according to governmental estimates.

The country had requested $1bn from IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RSF) in October, the minister had revealed during his visit to Washington then.