IMF approves revival of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility

The Executive Board of International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the revival of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility Program under which the country will get its 7th & 8th tranche of US $1.17 billion.

Announced from his official twitter handle Pakistan’s Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail tweeted “Alhamdolillah the IMF Board has approved the revival of our EFF program. We should now be getting the 7th & 8th tranche of $1.17 billion. I want to thank the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for taking so many tough decisions and saving Pakistan from default. I congratulate the nation”.

Alhamdolillah the IMF Board has approved the revival of our EFF program. We should now be getting the 7th & 8th tranche of $1.17 billion. I want to thank the Prime Minister @CMShehbaz for taking so many tough decisions and saving Pakistan from default. I congratulate the nation.

— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) August 29, 2022

IMF in its official statement stated that “it completed today the combined seventh and eighth reviews of the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. The Board’s decision allows for an immediate disbursement of SDR 894 million (about US$1.1 billion), bringing total purchases for budget support under the arrangement to about US$3.9 billion.

The EFF was approved by the Executive Board on July 3, 2019 (see Press Release No. 19/264 ) for SDR 4,268 million (about US$6 billion at the time of approval, or 210 percent of quota). In order to support program implementation and meet the higher financing needs in FY23, as well as catalyze additional financing, the IMF Board approved an extension of the EFF until end-June 2023, rephasing and augmentation of access by SDR 720 million that will bring the total access under the EFF to about US$6.5 billion”.

Miftah Ismail’s social media accounts were outpoured by congratulations and praises from legislatures, media persons and people of all walks of life from within and outside Pakistan as this approval/revival from IMF was not just a matter of billion or two billion dollars but I was a approval/revival on which the Pakistan’s economic survival depended as the entire world was looking forward for its outcome to whether go ahead with any financial transaction with Pakistan or not.

Financial analysts had been warning that Pakistan can run into financial bankruptcy and economic chaos similar to that of Sri Lanka if the IMF program Extended Fund Facility is not revived.