The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board has approved the revival of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, said the country’s Finance Minister, Miftah Ismail, adding that after this the country will receive the 7th and 8th tranche of USD 1.17 billion.
“Alhamdolillah, the IMF Board has approved the revival of our EFF program.”
We should now be getting the 7th and 8th tranches of $1.17 billion,” the federal minister tweeted.
Earlier in April 2020, the IMF board approved the disbursement of USD 1.386 billion to Pakistan. But it has yet to receive the funds.
The Finance Minister went on to congratulate the nation and thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for “taking tough decisions” and “saving Pakistan from default”.
The Dawn newspaper reported that the IMF will now immediately disburse about USD 1.2 billion to Pakistan and may provide up to USD 4 billion over the remainder of the current fiscal year, which began on 1 July.
However, an official statement is yet to be released by the global lender.
The development comes a day after the coalition government accused the PTI of “attempting to jeopardise the IMF loan programme” after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government refused to implement the terms of the Fund’s agreement in a letter.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, without naming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that it was unfortunate that a political party was doing politics over the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that self-centered politics could cause irreparable damage to the country as the IMF board was scheduled to hold its meeting, local media reported. Article 8/8