The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board on Monday approved the disbursement of $1.2 billion for Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) after successful review.
The decision came on Monday, after the IMF Executive Board convened in Washington.
According to the board, Pakistan’s robust execution of its program has preserved stability and enhanced financing and external indicators, even in the aftermath of the devastating floods.
“The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund completed the second review of Pakistan’s economic reform program supported by the EFF and the first review of Pakistan’s program supported by the RSF. This decision allows for an immediate disbursement of around US$1 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF and around US$200 million (SDR 154 million) under the RSF, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about $3.3 billion (SDR 2,434 billion),” IMF said in a statement.
Mr Nigel Clarke, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said that reforms in the energy sector are essential for maintaining its long-term viability and strengthening Pakistan’s competitiveness.
He added that timely power-tariff adjustments have helped curb both the accumulation and flow of circular debt, while stressing that the next phase of reforms must focus on sustainably lowering electricity generation and distribution costs and tackling inefficiencies across the power and gas sectors.
