he Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday approved $1billion loan for Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)
This was confirmed by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin in a post shared on his official Twitter handle.
“I am pleased to announce that IMF Board has approved 6th tranche of their programme for Pakistan,” he wrote.A session of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board for review of Pakistan’s economy was held in Washington on Wednesday.
The Sixth Review and release of $1 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), scheduled on January 12, 2022 and later January 28, was postponed twice earlier after receiving request from the Pakistani authorities.
The government sought postponement of the sixth review to the pass recommended fiscal tightening measures, including the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, popularly known as mini-budget, and State Bank of Pakistan Amendment Bill 2021.
Finance Minister Aurangzeb says Islamabad could have a staff-level agreement on the new program by early July, but he hasn’t said what the program’s scope is. If granted, it would be the 24th IMF bailout for Pakistan.
The $350 billion South Asian economy faces a persistent balance of payments problem, with almost $24 billion in debt and interest to be paid back over the course of the next fiscal year – three times more than its central bank’s foreign currency reserves.
The country’s GDP would grow by 2.6 percent in the fiscal year that ends in June, according to Pakistan’s finance minister. It is anticipated that the average annual inflation rate will be 24%, which is less than the prediction from the previous fiscal year.
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