ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund has approved the second last loan tranche of $501 million for Pakistan.
Before approval, the IMF Executive Board completed the 11th review of Pakistan’s economic performance for the January-March period under a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, according to a brief statement issued by the IMF from Washington.
After the completion of the IMF programme in September this year, the recently approved budget for FY2016-17 is likely to undergo major changes as the government has grossly understated its expenditures, sources added.
The executive board’s decision enables the immediate disbursement of about $501 million, bringing total disbursements to $6.01 billion, the IMF statement added.
The board also approved further increasing the limit on net foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for April-June period. However, it relaxed the criterion on reducing the net domestic assets for April-June period.
