Islamabad: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday approved the second tranche worth USD 425.5 million of the total USD 6 billion financial package it had previously sanctioned for Pakistan, according to a news report. The second instalment received approval for disbursement following the international agency’s first review of the government programme.
The IMF’s Executive Board met in Washington and provided its approval to the first review of the programme for the time period between July and September of the fiscal year 2019-20. The board issued this sanction after the IMF and the Pakistani government reached a staff-level agreement in November.
This approval will allow authorities to withdraw USD 425.5 million from the total package; bringing the total disbursements released to date to USD 1.44 billion. The IMF also released a statement saying that Pakistan’s progress was encouraging, and the country was on track towards economic development. However, due to elevated risks, they reiterated that strong implementation of reforms was necessary to keep this progress going.
