IMF’s Board to Meet on January 11 to Review Pakistan’s Loan Agreement

The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board will meet on January 11 to consider the staff-level agreement on the first review under Pakistan’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), Bloomberg reported on Friday. Back in November, IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review under Pakistan’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). Upon approval, Pakistan will have access to SDR 528 million (around $700 million), bringing total disbursements under the program to almost $1.9 billion. In a recent interview, Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar had expressed hope that the IMF Executive Board will meet in early December to consider the staff-level agreement. At the time, she expressed hope that Pakistan would not only get $700 million from the fund but the SBA approval would also unlock financial assistance from other multilateral financial institutions to the tune of $1.5 billion.