The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday completed its first review of Pakistan’s economic reform programme supported by a $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and allowed the immediate disbursement of $700 million, according to the finance ministry.
A statement from the ministry said the completion of the first review by the IMF’s Executive Board and the payment of 528m in special drawing rights brought the total disbursements under the SBA to $1.9bn.
“IMF funding along with recent inflows from multilateral lenders will further help the Pakistani rupee, that is fairly stable [over the] last few months,” said Mohammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities.
He added that this new tranche would help Pakistan in getting rollovers from allied countries such as the United Arab Emirates, China and Saudi Arabia and ease external debt repayment pressure.
In June 2023, the IMF Executive Board had approved the much-needed nine-month arrangement with Pakistan “to support its economic stabilisation programme”. The approval had allowed for an immediate disbursement of $1.2bn, with the rest to be phased over the programme’s duration — subject to two quarterly reviews.
