Success in IMF review set to unlock $700m

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the first review of a short-term loan deal, which will unlock about $700 million next month. The funds to be issued are a second tranche of the nine-month bailout package and are subject to approval from the IMF’s executive board, the lender said in a statement. This will bring total disbursements under the $3 billion package, approved in July, to almost $1.9bn. The IMF called upon the authorities to restore full return to the market-determined exchange rate and highlighted risks that may arise because of geopolitical tensions, rise in commodity prices and difficult global financial conditions, and advised the authorities to continue efforts to build resilience. It also pointed out that the timely disbursement of committed external support remains critical to support the authorities’ policy and reform efforts as the government was accelerating engagement with multilateral and official bilateral partners. This is after a long time that a quarterly review with the IMF has remained smooth and culminated in the immediate announcement of a staff-level agreement, as most of the quantitative targets had been complied with. The talks spanned over two weeks, from Nov 2 to 15, in Islamabad.