Pakistan's finance minister on Thursday said the International Monetary Fund deposited a much-awaited first installment of US$1.2 billion with the country's central bank under a recently signed bailout deal aimed at helping the impoverished Islamic nation avoid defaulting on its debt repayments.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in televised remarks said the remaining US$1.8 billion would be received from the IMF over the next nine months. The funds will bolster the country's foreign exchange reserves, which shrank to less than US$4 billion in recent months, raising fears of a default.
Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves are likely to rise to US$14 billion this week, Dar said.
The latest development came a day after the IMF said its executive board had approved an agreement to release a US$3 billion loan to support Pakistan's economic stabilization program.
Wednesday's announcement came less than two weeks after Pakistan and the IMF agreed to the plan following meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Dar and other officials.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement Wednesday that "Pakistan's economy was hit hard by significant shocks last year, notably the spillovers from the severe impacts of floods, the large volatility in commodity prices, and the tightening of external and domestic financing conditions."
She said the US$3 billion bailout, if "implemented faithfully" by Pakistan, will give it an opportunity to regain macroeconomic stability and address imbalances through consistent policy implementation.
The IMF bailout for Pakistan had been on hold since December because of the country's lack of compliance with a 2019 agreement, signed between the IMF and former Prime Minister Imran Khan. A breakthrough in talks came last month when Sharif met with Georgieva in Paris at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact to discuss the revival of the US$6 billion bailout that was to expire on June 30.
Sharif's talks with the IMF resulted in the signing of a new nine-month deal. Since coming to power in April 2022 after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament, Sharif has been grappling with an economic downturn.
Pakistan's economy witnessed a major shock last summer, when devastating floods killed 1,739 people and caused US$30 billion in damage.
This month again, rivers swollen by monsoon rains have inundated dozens of villages in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, displacing 1,500 people. Nearly 90 people have died in weather-related incidents since June 25 when the monsoon rains began.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberal party is 'strong and united,' despite efforts from within his caucus to oust him as leader.
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Turkiye鈥檚 air force struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in apparent retaliation for an attack at a key state-run defence company that killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others.
The Justice Department warned Elon Musk鈥檚 America PAC in recent days that his US$1 million sweepstakes to registered voters in swing states may violate federal law, people briefed on the matter told CNN.
Three people were found dead Wednesday and four others were hospitalized after an 'unexplained' incident at a care home in southern England, police said.
The U.S. said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, calling the move very serious and warning that those forces will be 'fair game' if they go into combat in Ukraine.
A homemade firebomb exploded inside a public high school in Chile on Wednesday, igniting a blaze that injured at least 34 students and one teacher, with several in serious condition, firefighters said.
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American singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet suffered a stroke while on tour in Toronto earlier this month, and a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to raise money to cover the 'overwhelming' health-care costs.
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