WASHINGTON: Pakistan has received “significant loan guarantees” from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates linked to a new International Monetary Fund program, beyond Islamabad’s deal to roll over $12 billion in bilateral loans, IMF officials said. received from someone. he said Thursday.
Nathan Porter, head of the IMF’s delegation to Pakistan, did not provide details of the amount of additional financing pledged by the three countries, but said the additional financing would be on top of the debt rollover.
“Without going into details, the UAE, China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia all participated in this program and provided significant loan guarantees,” Porter told reporters on a conference call.
The IMF Executive Board on Wednesday approved a new $7 billion, 37-month loan agreement for Pakistan that requires “sound policies and reforms” to strengthen macroeconomic stability. The approval determines the immediate disbursement of $1 billion to Islamabad.
The crisis-hit South Asian country has received 22 IMF bailout programs since 1958.
Mr Porter said Pakistan has seen a “truly remarkable” economic turnaround since mid-2023, with inflation falling dramatically, the exchange rate stabilizing and foreign exchange reserves more than doubling. Ta.
“What we have seen is the benefits of good policy in place,” Porter said, adding that the challenge now is to maintain coherence in monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies, and to improve tax increases and public spending. The aim is to build stronger and more sustainable growth by
Last year, Pakistan achieved its first primary surplus in 20 years, and the plan calls for increasing this to 2% of gross domestic product. Mr Porter said it was partly dependent on reforms to improve tax collection from tax-starved sectors such as retailers.
Mr Porter said the next review of the loan would likely take place in March or April 2025, based on performance criteria at the end of 2024.
Published September 27, 2024, 00:50 IST