The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board is scheduled to meet on May 9 to review two important matters related to the Pakistan economy. First it will discuss the staff level agreement for a new $1.3 billion loan under a special climate resilience programme and second it will conduct the first review of the ongoing $7 billion bailout package of Pakistan.
As per the IMF official website, this will be the first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement along with Pakistan request for additional support through the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb during his visit to Washington expressed hope that the IMF would approve both the review and the new arrangement in early May.
If approved the decision will unlock a $1 billion installment for Pakistan which is part of the three year bailout deal signed in July 2024. This IMF support has been vital in helping Pakistan economy stay afloat.
The 37 month EFF programme includes six scheduled reviews with each one linked to the release of funds. The release of this upcoming $1 billion tranche depends on the success of this review.
In March 2025 IMF officials had positively concluded their first six month review of the programme. They did not demand any new revenue measures during the evaluation.
Nathan Porter who leads the IMF mission to Pakistan stated:
“The programme is on track, and we’ve made good progress in key areas like cutting public debt, keeping inflation under control with tight monetary policy and reforming the energy sector to lower costs.”
Additionally an IMF technical team also visited Pakistan recently to assess the country request for over $1 billion in climate related funding.
This new climate resilience loan if approved would give Pakistan much needed financial support to better deal with environmental and climate challenges.
Also read this: Pakistan Faces Rs604B Tax Shortfall Ahead of Key IMF Review
