According to the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the resumption of its $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Pakistan.
Federal Minister Tarin confirmed the news on Twitter, stating, “I am pleased to announce that IMF Board has approved 6th tranche of their program for Pakistan”.
The executive board, which convened in Washington, also agreed to relax a few requirements to allow the fourth loan tranche to be released under the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility’s sixth review.
Now completed, the global lender will sign off to make available SDR 750 million (about $1,059 million) for Pakistan, bringing total disbursements under the EFF to about $3,027 million. Prior to this engagement, Pakistan and IMF had reached a staff-level agreement on policies and reforms needed to complete the sixth review under the $6 billion EFF and issued a press statement on November 21, 2021.
Notably, Pakistan committed to undertake measures including spending cuts and the implementation of around Rs. 500 billion in taxes, including a Rs. 20 per liter gasoline tax.
It is noteworthy that the global lender’s review meeting was earlier rescheduled from January 28 to February 2, 2022. Consequently, the next (seventh) evaluation of the $6 billion EFF program is scheduled for April 2022. Thereafter, the eighth and final review will be completed in September 2022.
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