Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed Friday that the United Arab Emirates has given its approval for the release of the last tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to the Pakistani government, an essential condition for the release of another 900 million euros to help the country’s ailing economy.
»The UAE authorities have confirmed to the IMF their bilateral support of $1 billion (about 900 million euros) to Pakistan,» the minister made on his Twitter account. »The State Bank of Pakistan is now preparing the necessary documentation to receive the said deposit from the Emirati authorities,» he added.
The minister also confirmed the receipt of the third and final tranche of the loan granted by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; an item of 270 million euros out of a total of 1.17 billion euros »to strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserves».
Pakistan and the IMF agreed in 2019 on a bailout program valued at about €6 billion, of which this last tranche was yet to be received.
This last tranche was to have been delivered by the IMF in February, but the country was awaiting a final confirmation from its international creditors, who condition this new tranche, in part, to a fiscal reform that would imply a 550 million euro increase in taxes.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
