The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board’s approval for the release of $1,177 million to Pakistan is expected in the third or fourth week of August, according to Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail.
“Most probably August 26 is the date of board approval,” he said.
A staff-level agreement (SLA) was achieved between the IMF team and the Pakistani government on Thursday to conclude the Extended Fund Facility’s (EFF) combined seventh and eighth evaluations, according to Brecorder.
As per IMF’s statement, “Subject to Board approval, about $1,177 million (SDR 894 million) will become available, increasing the total disbursements under the Programme to approximately $4.2 billion.” The agreement also included a nine-month extension of the EFF programme and an additional $1 billion.
The federal government stated that the administration has already performed all of the preliminary steps necessary for approval. “Therefore, after the staff-level agreement, the approval from the board could be considered a formality,” he said.
The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), among others, may all provide finance as a result of the development, he claimed.
“Pakistan can easily borrow money from multilateral institutions,” he said.
While discussing commodity pricing, Miftah remarked that the people will also profit from the falling costs of goods like edible oil and wheat on the world market.
The administration made difficult choices, the finance minister continued, to prevent the nation from going into debt and to help it from its current economic crisis.
He said that the government is exerting every effort to address the circular debt and poor governance problems.
