Pakistan to receive $1bn IMF instalment on Tuesday

Islamabad, July 9 (IANS) Pakistan will on Tuesday receive the $1 billion instalment from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) under the recently concluded $6 billion bailout package.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, IMF mission chief for the country Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo said the bailout package for Pakistan was aimed at stability of the nation's economy and institutions, Geo News reported.

"Pakistan has paid attention to economic reforms, he explained, adding that the US dollar exchange rate in the country was nearer to the reality. It was necessary to bump up tax collection in order to stabilise the economy," Ramirez-Rigo said.

Whether the state institutions were to be operated at a loss or profit was up to the government but the burden of institutions being run at a loss post-privatisation would be eliminated and non-tax income increased, the IMF's mission chief noted.

The IMF's Executive Board had on July 3 approved the three-year bailout package worth $6 billion to Pakistan.

IMF's spokesperson, Gerry Rice, had confirmed the news on Twitter, saying: "IMF Executive Board approved today a three-year US$6 billion loan to support Pakistan's economic plan, which aims to return sustainable growth to the country's economy and improve the standards of living," reports Geo News.

Furthermore, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday announced its plan to support Pakistan with indicative lending worth up to $10 billion for various development projects and programmes during the next five years.

The ADB held a series of consultations with the Pakistani government to "formulate a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), which will guide ADB's engagement in the country from 2020 to 2024", the lender said.