ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board will meet on Dec. 19 to review a staff-level agreement with Pakistan to release about $450 million from its $6 billion financing program with the South Asian country, spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday.
“What that indicates is that all prior actions and performance criteria under the program with Pakistan have been met and that the financing assurances needed for the program to go forward are in place,” Rice said, as quoted in a statement by the fund.
“IMF has a $6 billion program to support IMF’s economic reforms. We had a mission there in November and the communication around that with a preliminary assessment of where we think Pakistan stands ... The program is on track and we reached a staff-level agreement on what we call the first review,” the IMF statement read.
Pakistan secured its 13th since the late 1980s bailout program from the IMF in July. The IMF expressed satisfaction over the country’s economic performance, as the government has significantly narrowed trade and fiscal deficits.
Pakistan received an upfront disbursement of $991 million on completion of all prior actions before signing the fund program in July. The inflow of the $450 million second tranche would help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
The IMF completed the first quarterly review of the program during a visit to Islamabad between Oct. 28 and Nov. 8, and had submitted it to the board of directors for a final nod before releasing the second tranche.