IMF board to finalise $1.1b disbursement on Monday

Funding is last tranche of $3b standby arrangement which was secured last summer and which runs out this month

KARACHI:

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet on April 29 to discuss the approval of $1.1 billion funding for Pakistan, the fund said on Wednesday.

The funding is the second and last tranche of a $3 billion standby arrangement with the IMF, which was secured last summer to avert a sovereign default and which runs out this month.

The country is seeking a new long-term, larger IMF loan. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Islamabad could secure a staff-level agreement on the new programme by early July.

Islamabad says it is seeking a loan over at least three years to help macroeconomic stability and execute a long-due and painful structural reforms, though Aurangzeb has declined to detail what size of programme the country seeks.

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Islamabad is yet to make a formal request, but the Fund and the government are already in discussions.

If secured, it would be the 24th IMF bailout for Pakistan.

The $350 billion economy faces a chronic balance of payment crisis, with nearly $24 billion to repay in debt and interest over the next fiscal year - three-time more than the central bank's foreign currency reserves.

The finance ministry expect the economy to grow by 2.6% in the current fiscal year ending June, while average inflation is projected to stand at 24%, down from 29.2% in fiscal year 2023/2024. Inflation soared to a record high of 38% last May.