ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received the much-awaited tranche of US$ 498.7 million (SDR 350 million) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This was confirmed by the central bank in tweet.
The donor agency so far had released $1.95 billion out of total amount of $6 billion.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund approved a $500 million disbursement to Pakistan for budget support after the IMF executive board completed delayed reviews of the country’s $6 billion loan programme.
Questions over fiscal and revenue reforms had led to the suspension of the $6 billion bailout package since early last year, but the IMF and Pakistan reached an agreement last month to resume the suspended facility.
The latest payment brought to $2 billion total disbursements under the Extended Fund Facility since the programme was first approved in July 2019, the IMF has said.
In the past, remittances and inflows raised by debt have shored up Pakistan’s foreign reserves to support its currency.
The central bank has revised its economic growth target to 3% from 2% for fiscal 2020/21. The IMF projects 1.5% growth.
Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and BOC International arranged the deal.
