KARACHI: The IMF's Pakistan representative said on Wednesday the Fund's executive board would meet on August 29 to decide on resuming a stalled $6 billion loan facility for Islamabad.
Last month, the IMF said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan that would pave the way for disbursement of $1.17 billion, if approved by the IMF board.
In a statement on July 14, the IMF said its staff had reached agreement on policies under a review of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program that could bring total disbursements under the programme to about $4.2 billion, if approved.
"The IMF Executive Board meeting for the combined seventh and eight reviews under the Extended Fund Facility has been set for August 29," the IMF Pakistan representative said.
The breakthrough could be barely more timely, with the high price of energy imports pushing Pakistan to the brink of a balance of payments crisis.
Its foreign currency reserves have fallen low enough to hardly cover five weeks of imports, and the Pakistani rupee has weakened to record lows against the U.S. dollar.
Pakistan entered a 39-month, $6 billion IMF programme in 2019, but less than half of the amount has been disbursed to date as Islamabad has struggled to keep targets on track.