IMF staff-level deal could disburse $1.2B to Pakistan on approval

The International Monetary Fund and Pakistan have reached a staff-level agreement that would allow Islamabad to draw about 1.2 billion dollars from a rescue package if approved by the IMF Executive Board, the Fund said on Wednesday. The accord covers a 1 billion dollar disbursement under Pakistan's 37-month Extended Fund Facility and 200 million dollars under a 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to roughly 3.3 billion dollars.

An IMF mission led by Iva Petrova concluded talks with Pakistani authorities last week on the second review of the Extended Fund Facility and the first review of the RSF climate facility. The staff-level agreement is subject to formal approval by the IMF's board, after which the tranche payments would be released.

The IMF said the programme is helping to entrench macroeconomic stability and rebuild market confidence. In a statement, Petrova noted that "supported by the EFF, Pakistan's economic programme is entrenching macroeconomic stability and rebuilding market confidence." The Fund cited a series of positive indicators for fiscal year 2025: a current account surplus for the first time...