ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Pakistan’s chances of getting substantial funding under Poverty Reduction Growth Facility programme from the IMF are exceedingly good when its executive board meets in Washington on Dec 6, says a senior IMF official.

“Pakistan is poised to get a three-year highly concessional PRGF package on the basis of a strong economic reform programme it has prepared,” Mr Henri Ghesquiere, Senior Resident Representative of the IMF in Islamabad told Dawn on Friday.

He said that Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy prepared by the government of Pakistan was an impressive document on the basis of which the IMF executive board will decide new funding under the PRGF programme. This IPRS, he pointed out, will explain to the Executive Board the strategy Pakistan wanted to put in place during the next three-year period.

However, he said, he could not indicate the exact size of the programme at this stage. The financing gap of $3.2 billion for the current year, he said, will be jointly bridged by the bilateral and multilateral creditors.

“The good news is that there are sufficient indications of Pakistan getting its current financial year’s financing gap filled adequately,” he said. He said the new package to be offered by the IMF only carried 0.5 per cent interest rate which was very concessional.

This IPRS has been handed over to the IMF and is expected to be shortly made public by the government of Pakistan, Mr Ghesquiere said.

Later, he said, the Paris Club will meet on Dec 11 and 12 to restructure Pakistan’s debts.

In reply to a question, the IMF senior representative said the delay in implementation of various policy measures will delay the process of obtaining early benefit of reforms.

He also described the IMF board meeting as “critical” and said: “I believe the meeting will be obsessed by the efforts the government of Pakistan is making to improve its economy”. The IMF and other bilateral and multilateral donors, he said, were delighted over the successful completion of the 10-month $596 million Standby Agreement that ended on Sept 30 this year.

The government is said to have been assured by the Bush administration that Pakistan’s $8 billion financing gap during the next three years would satisfactorily be met by bilateral and multilateral donors.

The financing gap of $3.2 billion for 2001-2002 is expected to include $700 million loans to be restructured by the Paris Club.

Sources said that while the IMF, Paris Club and other bilateral and multilateral donors were working out details to offer substantial assistance to Pakistan, they wanted improvements in various sectors.

For instance, they were of the view that issues like corruption, good governance, transparency and more funding for health and education sectors needed to be taken seriously by the government.