ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the fourth tranche worth of $555.9 million under three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan.
As per details, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board completed the third review of Pakistan’s economic performance under the EFF arrangement. The completion of the review enables an immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 360 million (about $555.9 million)”, said a brief statement issued by the Fund.
Pakistan entered into IMF’s programme under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) on September 4, 2013, as the IMF Executive Board had approved the 36-month extended arrangement under the EFF in the amount of SDR 4.393 billion (about $6.78 billion, or 425 percent of Pakistan’s quota at the IMF).
Pakistan has so far received $1.65 billion from IMF in three tranches. Pakistan’s total loan from IMF under EFF would reach to $2.2 billion after receiving fourth tranche worth of $555.9 million in next few days. It is to be noted that Pakistan had approached IMF to repay the previous loans, as government repaid $3.2 billion during outgoing financial year 2013-14, while total repayment in last two three years is over $7 billion.
The country’s reserves would further enhance with the arrival of fourth tranche in next week. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves are currently $14.263 billion wherein State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves is $9.19 billion and $5.074 billion of commercial banks.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission, led by Jeffrey Franks, visited Dubai during May 1-9, 2014 to conduct discussions on the third review of Pakistan’s SDR 4.393 billion (about $6.6 billion) Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The IMF mission on Friday presented its report in Executive Board meeting, which was approved. Pakistan has met all end-March 2014 performance criteria with the exception of the target on Net Domestic Assets of the central bank, which was missed by a small margin. Two of three structural benchmarks for this review were met, including the structural benchmark on tax administration and the benchmark on the audit of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA). However, the benchmark on hiring privatisation advisers was only partially met.
