Pakistan receives $554 mln second tranche of IMF loan
KARACHI: Pakistan has received 554 million dollars as a second tranche
of its $6.7 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an official said Tuesday.
The Washington-based lender approved the extended fund facility (EFF) in September to help the struggling nuclear-armed
country achieve economic reforms, particularly in its troubled energy sector.
The IMF made
an initial payment of $540 million, and in November fund officials said during a monitoring visit that Pakistan was “broadly
on track” with reforms.
“Pakistan received the second tranche from IMF under
the ongoing EFF on December 23,” a spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan (central bank) said in a statement.
The release of the instalment will also bolster the bank's declining foreign exchange reserves.
Cash-strapped Pakistan, plagued by a bloody homegrown Taliban insurgency, is battling to get its
shaky economy back on track and solve a chronic energy crisis that cripples industry.
Announcing
the approval of the funds on Thursday, the IMF's deputy managing director and acting chair Nemat Shafik warned that Pakistan
must continue its reforms for the economy to recover, in particular to improve tax collection..IPSNEWS
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