Pakistan receives $452.4mn second tranche of IMF loan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received $452.4 million as the second tranche of the $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, taking the foreign exchange reserves of the country’s struggling economy up to $18 billion.

“On December 23, SBP received $452.4 million from IMF as second tranche under EFF (extended fund facility) programme,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement on Thursday.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $17.595 billion in the week ended December 20 compared with $17.655 billion in previous week. The SBP’s reserves increased $14 million to $10.907 billion, The News International reported. The SBP didn’t include the latest disbursement in its weekly reserves data.

“These funds (IMF loan tranche) will be part of SBP weekly reserves data as of December 27, to be released on January 2, 2020,” the SBP said. With inclusion of the second tranche, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $18 billion, while the reserves held by the SBP increased to $11.35 billion.

Last week, the executive board of the IMF approved the second tranche following the completion of the first review of three-year extended fund facility in July. The Washington-based lender, after the first review, posed trust on continuity of IMF-backed reforms needed to bring Pakistan’s economy on the stability path. But, it cautioned against fiscal slippages with risks to reforms remaining elevated.

The growth was projected to further slide to 2.4 per cent in the current fiscal year from 3.3 percent in the last fiscal of 2018/19, The News International reported. The IMF’s total loan disbursements reached to $1.44 billion following the second tranche release. The country bagged the first loan installment of around $1 billion in July. IANS