WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — The International Monetary Fund and Pakistan have reached a staff-level agreement on the fourth review of the Extended Fund Facility and the third review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, potentially unlocking about $1.2 billion in financing, the IMF said.
The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board. On approval, Pakistan will have access to about $1.0 billion (SDR 760 million) under the Extended Fund Facility and about $210 million (SDR 154 million) under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. Total disbursements under the two arrangements would then reach about $5.7 billion.
An IMF team led by Iva Petrova held discussions with Pakistani authorities in Karachi and Islamabad from 23 September to 7 October. The talks also covered the 2026 Article IV consultation.
In a statement at the end of the talks, Petrova said that, supported by the Extended Fund Facility, the authorities had navigated the impact of the Middle East conflict and that strong policies had helped preserve macroeconomic stability. The IMF said the current account was broadly balanced in the 2026 fiscal year, supported by strong remittances, and that gross reserves rose to about $21.5 billion by the end of September. It said growth reached 4% in the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
The IMF said Pakistan should keep to the FY27 budget, which is built around an underlying primary surplus of 2.0% of GDP, and that the State Bank of Pakistan should keep monetary policy appropriately tight so that inflation returns durably to its target range. On the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which supports climate resilience, it cited progress in factoring climate into public investment planning and in disaster risk financing.
