IMF revives Pakistan’s EFF program: finance minister
After months of intense efforts, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday approved the seventh and eighth review of the crippled $6 billion program in Pakistan, announced Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.
The finance minister announced the development on his Twitter handles saying: “Alhamdolillah the IMF board has approved the revival of our EFF program. We should now be getting the seventh and eighth tranche of $1.17 billion.”The Minister of Finance also thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “for making so many difficult decisions and rescuing Pakistan from the default”.
Pakistan entered the program with the Fund in 2019, however, Islamabad had difficulty keeping the goals on track as only half of the funds had been disbursed.
The cash-strapped country received this latest disbursement in February and the next tranche was scheduled to follow after review in March. But the prime minister’s government ousted Imran Khan and reduced oil prices by massively subsidizing the nation, derailing budget targets and the program.
However, after months of hard work by the coalition government, which took office in April, — Pakistan signed the staff-level agreement with the Washington-based lender in July after having fulfilled all the prerequisites.
The Executive Board today reviewed the progress made and decided to restart the program and approved the seventh and eighth loan installments. Pakistan may receive a $1.17 billion loan tranche from Fund within a week. However, the IMF has not issued a formal statement in this regard.