20th March, 2024
Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, have reached a preliminary agreement for the release of 1.1 billion dollars from a 3 billion-dollar bailout following daylong talks in Islamabad.
The IMF said late on Wednesday, the package was aimed at bolstering the economy of the South Asian country.
“The IMF team has reached a staff-level agreement with the Pakistani authorities on the second and final review of Pakistan’s stabilisation programme,” the IMF said in a statement on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s economy was pulled back from the brink amid fears of default when the IMF approved a short-term 3 billion dollars bailout package.
Pakistan has already received 1.9 billion dollars of the 3 billion dollars programme signed in July last year.
Before the agreement, the foreign exchange reserves of the country fell to a level so low as able to support only one month of exports.
The IMF statement noted that Pakistan’s economic and financial position had improved in the months since the first review.
However, Pakistan’s new government needs policy reforms to address deep-seated economic vulnerabilities.
Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, soon after taking oath, had directed his team to prepare a plan for a long-term bailout as the new government planned to stabilise a crumbling economy.
On economic front, the government faces soaring inflation, heavy debt burden, unemployment and high rates of electricity and gas.
Sharif’s government says it inherited economic crisis from the previous government of Imran Khan whose policies pushed the country to the brink. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)