By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board on Monday approved a much awaited $1.17 billion disbursement to Pakistan after completing seventh and eighth reviews of the country’s reforms under a stalled $6 billion loan program.
“The IMF Board has approved the revival of our EFF program. We should now be getting the 7th & 8th tranche of $1.17 billion,” the country’s Finance Minister, Miftah Ismail, said on Twitter.
The Fund has also approved a Pakistan request to increase in the size and duration of its $6 billion bailout programme, Ismail said.
“They’ve agreed to extend programme for another one year also enhanced the funding available to Pakistan from $6 billion under this programme to perhaps a little bit more.”
Pakistan entered the IMF programme in 2019, but only half the funds have been disbursed to date as Islamabad has struggled to keep targets on track.
The last disbursement was in February and the next tranche was to follow a review in March, but the government of ousted prime minister Imran Khan introduced costly fuel price caps which threw fiscal targets and the programme off track.
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