Reporting snapshot · 22 September 2026. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said his ministry has formally asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in writing, to include it in the core team that will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), alongside the Finance Division. The fourth review talks under Pakistan's $7 billion Extended Fund Facility are due to begin on Wednesday, 23 September, and run through 7 October. The account of the request and the quoted remarks rest on The Express Tribune and Profit by Pakistan Today; the IMF had not publicly commented on the ministry's request when this article was prepared, and no decision by the prime minister's office has been announced.
What happened
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that his ministry has officially communicated to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in writing, a request to be included in the core team for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), alongside the Finance Division, according to reports in The Express Tribune and Profit by Pakistan Today.
“I have recommended to the prime minister that a representative of the Planning Commission should also be included in the team that will negotiate with the IMF,” Iqbal told reporters while responding to a question.
“We have officially communicated to the PM in writing to include the Ministry of Planning as part of the team, along with the Ministry of Finance, for holding negotiations with the IMF because broader discussions on the economy, including growth, inflation, poverty and others, are the domain of our ministry,” he said while launching the ministry’s Monthly Development Outlook at a news conference.
The request comes as Pakistan and the IMF are due to begin the fourth review under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) on Wednesday, 23 September, with the talks continuing through 7 October, according to The Express Tribune. A successful completion of the review would make Pakistan eligible for a further loan disbursement of about $1 billion under the EFF, plus climate-related financing of about $200-210 million under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), depending on the figure reported by the outlet. Dawn reported on 10 September that the IMF staff mission, led by Iva Petrova, would conduct the fourth review of the EFF and the third review of the RSF in an almost two-week visit ending in the first week of October, and that disbursements would follow an Executive Board meeting expected by the end of November or early December.
Why the Planning Ministry wants a seat
Iqbal said the $7 billion programme “is not just about numbers but about people and economic development,” a formulation that underlines a running complaint in government circles that the programme has been managed almost entirely through fiscal numbers. The statement, The Express Tribune noted, “underscores the strong role of the finance ministry in the IMF programme, which has resulted in criticism from government circles and independent experts about viewing the financing facility only in relation to fiscal numbers.”
The written request marks an attempt by the Planning Ministry to regain a role in the country’s economic negotiations, Profit by Pakistan Today reported. The Planning Commission was a major part of economic policymaking during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, while the Finance Division became increasingly prominent from the 1990s onwards.
According to The Express Tribune’s report, the finance ministry has kept tight control over the programme’s design and negotiations, which officials say has led to commitments on the agriculture sector and a heavy emphasis on fiscal stabilisation. The report also said the finance ministry has made the petroleum levy a central point of the programme even though there is no explicit condition in the IMF document about the rate of the levy; the result, in the view of critics cited by the newspaper, is that the government improved its fiscal numbers but the measures fuelled inflation, unemployment, poverty and low economic growth. The government is in its fifth year of economic stabilisation, Iqbal said, but he hoped Pakistan could achieve more than 4 percent economic growth in the next fiscal year.
The ministry’s Monthly Development Outlook said development efforts going forward would focus on improving the efficiency and impact of public investment, accelerating priority projects and strengthening implementation capacity, with a greater emphasis on private investment, exports, productivity, technology, human capital and climate resilience.
What the fourth review involves
The IMF review mission is set to hold talks with Pakistani authorities in Islamabad this week. Pakistan’s delegation will be led by the finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, while Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal will spearhead the technical-level discussions, according to Profit by Pakistan Today. Dawn reported that the mission would begin with technical discussions at the State Bank of Pakistan, followed by meetings with the government’s sectoral teams and a customary inaugural meeting with Aurangzeb.
The talks come against a backdrop of improving external indicators. Iqbal said the external sector had started showing signs of improvement, with both remittances and exports growing during July and August and foreign exchange reserves reaching about $21.3 billion. The State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves have risen further since, supported by the proceeds of the record $3 billion Eurobond in September, and Moody’s upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating to B3 on improving stability.
The institutional question raised by Iqbal’s request is separate from the review’s technical agenda. The fourth review under the EFF is being coupled with an Article IV consultation — the Fund’s regular health check of a member economy — for the first time since September 2024, and the programme’s performance against the fiscal targets for the period ending June 2026 has mostly been on track, although with a revenue shortfall and slippages in the policy matrix, according to reporting in Dawn. KhabarWire previewed the talks and their energy-reform agenda, including DISCO privatisation and a circular debt target, in an earlier report on 19 September.
What is still uncertain
The immediate uncertainty is whether the prime minister accepts the Planning Ministry’s request. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Finance Division had issued a public statement on the matter when this article was prepared, and the IMF had not commented publicly on the ministry’s bid for a seat at the table.
The outcome of the review talks themselves remains open. Whether the two sides can agree on the energy-reform and tariff measures, how quickly the competitive-market bidding and DISCO privatisation move forward, and whether the revenue shortfall complicates the review will become clearer as the roughly two-week mission proceeds. As with earlier phases of the programme, the disbursement figures cited by different outlets also differ slightly — The Express Tribune reported $210 million in climate-support financing, while Dawn’s reporting put the RSF component at $200 million — and the final amount will only be confirmed once a staff-level agreement is reached and approved by the IMF’s Executive Board.
Iqbal separately expressed hope that Pakistan’s efforts would contribute to peace in the Gulf region and that the recent surge in prices would normalise in the coming weeks and months, allowing inflation to return to single digits.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 22 September 2026. The account of the Planning Ministry's request and the quoted remarks rest on The Express Tribune and Profit by Pakistan Today; the programme context is drawn from Dawn and The Express Tribune. The IMF had not publicly commented on the request when this article was prepared.
- The Express Tribune — Iqbal seeks role in IMF talks22 September 2026 · Primary report of the Planning Ministry's request, the 23 September start date, the review timeline through 7 October, the tranche figures and the criticism of the finance ministry's control of the programme.
- Profit by Pakistan Today — Planning Ministry asks PM to include it in core team for IMF talks22 September 2026 · Independent confirmation of the written request, the ministry's stated rationale, the delegation structure and the Planning Commission's historical role.
- Dawn — IMF mission due on Sept 23 for biannual review of Pakistan's economic performance10 September 2026 · Independent background on the mission's timing, leadership and scope, the EFF and RSF review structure, and programme performance to end-June 2026.
