Islamabad, Apr 30 (UNI) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board will meet with Pakistani authorities on May 9 to discuss the country’s staff-level agreement for a new $1.3 billion arrangement under a climate resilience loan programme, along with the first review of Pakistan’s ongoing $7billion bailout programme.
According to the global money lender, this will be the first “review under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility”, along with a request for an arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), as reported by Dawn.
In an affirmation of the meeting, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb during his visit to Washington had also said that he expected the IMF Executive Board to approve the programme sometime in early May.
A Board approval would allow for the disbursement of a $1 billion tranche under the programme secured by Pakistan in 2024. The IMF programme has been instrumental in stabilising Pakistan’s fragile economy, offering vital external financing and bolstering market confidence.
The global money lender and Islamabad had reached an accord in July 2024, under which Pakistan was approved for a three-year, $7billion aid package. The new programme was set to allow the country to “cement macroeconomic stability and create conditions for stronger, more inclusive and resilient growth”.
The ongoing 37-month EFF programme consists of six reviews over the life of the bailout, and the release of the next tranche of approximately $1billion will be contingent on the success of the performance review.
In March, Pakistan and the IMF had concluded the first biannual review of the three-year-loan programme on a positive note, without imposing additional revenue measures.
In an end-of-mission statement, mission chief Nathan Porter said: “Programme implementation has been strong, and the discussions have made considerable progress in several areas, including the planned fiscal consolidation to durably reduce public debt, maintenance of sufficiently tight monetary policy to maintain low inflation, acceleration of cost-reducing reforms to improve energy sector viability.”
For Pakistan, this is news of significant importance, as its economy is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, its credit rating has gone down significantly (though there has been a slight improvement as well), private sector investments are next to zero, and public sector units are yielding little benefits.
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