After PM Office’s announcement, IMF board confirms $7bn loan agreement

The board of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday agreed to loan Pakistan $7 billion to bolster its faltering economy, approving a relief package that the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government has pledged would be the last from the Washington-based lender. The three-year programme “will require sound policies and reforms” to support Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its economy “and create conditions for a stronger, more inclusive, and resilient growth,” the IMF said in a statement. The government in July agreed to the deal — its 24th IMF payout since 1958 — in exchange for unpopular reforms, including widening its chronically low tax base. Pakistan last year came to the brink of default as the economy shrivelled amid political chaos following catastrophic 2022 monsoon floods and decades of mismanagement, as well as a global economic downturn.