THE International Monetary Fund is likely to approve an additional $4.1 billion loan to Pakistan, Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Shaukat Tarin said Friday, reported Nasdaq.com. The IMF will also approve $850 million third tranche of a 23-month standby arrangement of $7.6 billion on Aug 7. The facility was sanctioned in November 2008 to salvage Pakistan from a balance of payments crisis, Tarin said. IMF officials werent immediately available for comment. Pakistan in April received $848 million from the IMF as the second instalment, and has so far received $3.9 billion under the standby facility. The government has received a positive response from the International Monetary Fund and we hope that the fund will approve a loan amounting to $3.1 billion in August, and around $1 billion in December after the revision of the countrys quota, Tarin told reporters. Pakistan, in June, had asked the International Monetary Fund for an additional $4.1 billion standby loan to finance the 2009-10 budget deficit. The government expects the fiscal deficit to rise to 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year from July; above the 4.6 per cent target set by the IMF. With the additional loan, the programme size will grow to $11.7 billion, said Tarin, who is tipped to be the finance minister after his election to the Senate. The government is expected also to get around $4 billion from the Friends of Pakistan group by October, Tarin added. The US and Japan have committed $1 billion each, while Saudi Arabia has pledged to provide $700 million and the United Arab Emirates has agreed to give $300 million. The remaining amount is also workable and isnt very difficult to get, he said.