Washington, DC July 12 2023: The Executive Board’s approval for bailout package for Pakistan allows for an immediate disbursement of SDR894 million (or about US$1.2 billion).
Dollar fall PKR 2.64 in interbank in today’s trading session against yesterday closing of PKR 277.48.
The remaining amount will be phased over the program’s duration, subject to two quarterly reviews.
Yesterday, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 9-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan for an amount of SDR2,250 million (about $3 billion, or 111 percent of quota) to support the authorities’ economic stabilization program.
“State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received a deposit of USD 2 billion from Saudi Arabia and USD 1 billion from United Arab Emirates. This inflow has further increased forex reserves held by SBP and will accordingly be reflected in the forex reserves position for the week ending 14July2023” says Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar.
“Pakistan reserves will be at USD 8.9 billion at June 2023 if country maintains current account balance at -1.8 percent of GDP” says IMF in its report.
The arrangement comes at a challenging economic juncture for Pakistan. A difficult external environment, devastating floods, and policy missteps have led to large fiscal and external deficits, rising inflation, and eroded reserve buffers in FY23.
