Pakistan Has Paid $2.69 Billion in Interest on IMF Loans Since 2008

Pakistan has paid a total of SDR 1.90 billion (about $2.69 billion) in interest on various International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes since 2008, including surcharges amounting to SDR 401.24 million (over $570 million), according to documents from the Economic Affairs Division (EAD). The EAD data shows that, over the past 17 years, Pakistan received SDR 17.45 billion in disbursements under multiple IMF arrangements. These include SDR 4.94 billion under the Standby Arrangement (2008-2010), SDR 297 million under Emergency Natural Disaster Assistance (2010), SDR 4.39 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) 2013, SDR 3.04 billion under the Rapid Financing Instrument Loan (2020), SDR 1.02 billion under the Standby Arrangement (2023), SDR 2.25 billion under the EFF (2024), and SDR 1.52 billion under the Standby Arrangement Programme (2008). Interest payments have varied over the years. From 2009 to 2015, the government paid SDR 257.5 million in interest. Under the Emergency Natural Disaster Assistance 2010, SDR 14.5 million was paid in mark-up between 2010 and 2015. For the EFF, SDR 543.6 million was paid in interest from 2013 to 2025. The government also paid SDR 411.4 million in interest on the Extended Facility 2019 (2019-2025), SDR 110.1 million on the Rapid Financing Instrument Loan 2020 (2020-2025), SDR 142.23 million on the Standby Arrangement 2023 (2023-2025), and SDR 17.6 million on the EFF 2024 (2024-2025). The highest annual interest payment was SDR 376 million in 2025, followed by SDR 325.79 million in 2023 and SDR 142.6 million in 2022. The lowest mark-up, SDR 24 million, was paid in 2014, a year in which no surcharges were paid. In 2015, the government paid a relatively low mark-up of SDR 27.6 million. The EAD also noted that there is no transparent mechanism for ascertaining the utilization of IMF lending. On October 15, the IMF team reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan for the second review of the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the EFF and the first review of the 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board. If approved, Pakistan will have access to approximately $1.0 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF and about $200 million (SDR 154 million) under the RSF, bringing the total disbursements under the two arrangements to around $3.3 billion.