Pakistan Receives Much-awaited Tranche of Over $1 Billion from IMF

Pakistan has received a much-awaited tranche of over $1 billion from International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

In a tweet, SBP said on Friday, “following the successful completion of the 6th review of the IMF program, #SBP has received the next tranche of $1.053 billion.”

This is the sixth and the last tranche of IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) which has been approved after completion of the sixth review of its program for Pakistan with strict conditions.

Pakistan’s overall foreign exchange reserves have decreased by over $1.8 billion in the last 23 days in January on account of debt servicing, which kept the situation of the current account under pressure.

After receiving this tranche, the foreign exchange reserves will increase from $22 billion to $23 billion.

It is noteworthy that the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves went down by $398 million on 28 January 2022 to $22.08 billion, compared to $22.48 billion in the previous week. SBP’s reserves fell by $463 million to $15.72 billion during the week under review, compared to $16.19 billion on 21 January.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Rupee maintained its blistering run for the seventh consecutive day in the interbank market on Friday. It gained Rs. 1.03 against the US Dollar, 91 paisas against the Australian Dollar, 83 paisas against the Pound Sterling, 77 paisas against the Canadian Dollar, 27 paisas against the Saudi Riyal, and 28 paisas against the UAE Dirham.

Conversely, it lost Rs. 1.78 against the Euro (EUR) in Friday’s interbank currency market.

Source: Pro Pakistani