ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received $700 million loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The loan was approved after the IMF Executive Board completed its first review last week, bringing the total disbursements under the $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA) to about $1.9 billion, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed confirmed.
After the board’s approval last week, Antoinette Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Chair, said there were now tentative signs of activity picking-up and external pressures easing.
In effort to secure the bailout, Pakistan had implemented tough IMF-requested measures: a revamped budget, a record interest rate hike, and painful increases in electricity and gas prices.
The IMF also got Pakistan to raise $1.34 billion in new taxation to meet fiscal adjustments and the measures fuelled all-time high inflation of 38 per cent year-on-year in May, which is still hovering above 30 per cent.
As Pakistan has secured the IMF loan, analysts expect the struggling South Asian nation to secure more multilateral and bilateral loans.
