Pakistan authorities and International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff have reached a staff-level agreement on the third review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the second review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Upon approval by the IMF Executive Board, Pakistan will have access to about US$1.0 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF and about US$210 million (SDR 154 million) under the RSF, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about US$4.5 billion, according to the latest IMF statement.
The staff-level agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board.
“Supported by the EFF, ongoing policies have continued to strengthen the economy and rebuild market confidence. Following the recovery in FY25, economic activity gained further momentum in the first part of the current fiscal year.
“Inflation and the current account balance remained contained, and external buffers continued to strengthen. The conflict in the Middle East, however, casts a cloud over the outlook as volatile energy prices and tighter global financial conditions risk putting upward pressure on inflation and weigh on growth and the current account,” IMF statement read.
The development comes after Pakistan and the IMF made “considerable progress” in discussions on the third review of the country’s EFF programme earlier this month.
The IMF team arrived in Pakistan on February 26 and began discussions on March 2.
However, later, on March 4, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the delegation had cut short its visit, and left Islamabad on March 3, citing security concerns, and was in Istanbul and that he was in contact with its members.
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