Pakistan seeks IMF’s next $452m tranche

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir on Thursday signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) and dispatched it to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters for approval of the next tranche of $452 million next week, The News reported.

The IMF’s Executive Board is scheduled to meet next week on December 19 in Washington to approve the first review and release of second tranche under $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The letter signed by Shaikh and Baqir demonstrated Islamabad’s commitment that it would pursue all committed reforms and conditions so the executive board grants approval for release of next installment worth $452 million.

“The IMF management have circulated the signed Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) among the members of Executive Board and now the meeting is scheduled to take place before Christmas holidays on December 19, 2019 for approving release of next tranche” official sources confirmed to The News.

Last week Special Secretary Finance and official spokesman Omar Hamid Khan told The News that Pakistan had not made any request to IMF for granting of any waiver as all required performance criteria were met successfully.

IMF’s Resident Chief in Pakistan Teresa Daban Sanchez last week confirmed that everything was ready for board meeting before Christmas as originally planned. Official sources added that Pakistan was likely to receive the second tranche of IMF loan of $452 million by December 19.

Read also: Pakistan receives first tranche of IMF loan

On July 10, Pakistan received the first tranche of loan of $991.4 million from IMF under the EFF.

The IMF's Executive Board on July 3 had approved a three-year bailout package worth $6 billion to Pakistan.

IMF's spokesperson, Gerry Rice, had confirmed the news on Twitter, saying, "IMF Executive Board approved today a three-year US$6 billion loan to support Pakistan’s economic plan, which aims to return sustainable growth to the country’s economy and improve the standards of living."

"The country's economic plan seeks to return sustainable growth to the economy by adopting reforms to foster stronger and more sustainable growth," Rice had added.

The IMF and Pakistan's government had earlier already signed a staff agreement on May 12 in this regard.

Originally published in The News