ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the efforts of Pakistan’s friendly countries to provide the country with the necessary financial support to help revive its loan programme.
IMF Mission Chief for Pakistan, Nathan Porter, also expressed support for Pakistan’s officials’ efforts to secure financial assurances from friendly nations, which will help complete the ninth review under the Extended Fund Facility.
The UAE’s financial support of $1 billion to Pakistan has removed a key hurdle in securing the much-awaited bailout tranche from the IMF, making it the third country to come to Pakistan’s aid after China and Saudi Arabia. However, the IMF has indicated that Pakistan is still in breach of certain targets, with the fiscal deficit expected to peak at almost double what was anticipated.
Nathan Porter said that Islamabad and global lender had agreed to continue the ongoing economic policies in the recent meetings. Both sides had also agreed to arrange adequate funds to implement these policies.
He said the IMF backed the efforts being made by the Pakistani officials to secure the financial assurances from friendly states as they will help it complete the ninth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
A day earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that the United Arab Emirates agreed to financial support of $1 billion to Pakistan, removing a key hurdle to securing a much-awaited bailout tranche from the IMF.
The commitment is one of the IMF’s last requirements before approving a staff-level pact to release a tranche of $1.1 billion, delayed for months, that is crucial for Pakistan to resolve an acute balance of payments crisis.– Agencies
