Amid the rising inflation in Pakistan and the spate of protests against the falling state of the country’s economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to allow Pakistan to use USD 2.78 billion to meet the budgetary requirement, reported a local media.
Islamabad [Pakistan] : According to Geo TV, the IMF is yet to make an official announcement and is expected to be made besides the announcement of the approval of USD 1 billion tranche pending under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Notably, the fund was provided to Pakistan in the fight against the pandemic. “The Ministry of Finance has made a request to the IMF to allow utilisation of $2.78 billion windows provided to fight the COVID-19 pandemic for the purpose of meeting financing of budgetary requirements,” Geo TV reported the officials as saying citing a conversation with The News on Tuesday. Pakistan sought explanations from the IMF after the latter shared an initial draft of the Memorandum of Financial and Economic Policies (MEFP) before reaching a staff-level agreement, reported Geo TV. However, the Finance Ministry has refrained from issuing any press statement until the issuance of the order from the IMF’s side.
