ISLAMABAD        -         Pakistan would receive second tranche worth of $452 million from International Monetary Fund (IMF) next week that would build the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

The Executive Board of the IMF on December 19 has completed the first review of Pakistan’s economic performance under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The completion of the review will allow the authorities to draw about $452.4 million, bringing total disbursements to about US$ 1,440 million. The Executive Board approved the 39-month, about $6 billion at the time of approval of the arrangement, or 210 percent of quota) EFF for Pakistan on July 3, 2019.

"The State Bank of Pakistan will receive the tranche in next week," said an official of the Ministry of finance. He further said that Pakistan would also receive loan from World Bank in next week.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan had recently surged to $10.893 billion. This increase is attributed to multilateral and other official inflows including proceeds of US$1,300 million received from Asian Development Bank. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $17.655 billion. The reserves would further increase after the inflow from the World Bank.

 The World Bank had also signed $406.6 million with Pakistan for Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) Project. The loans from the World Bank and IMF would be added in the country’s foreign exchange reserves in next week.

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan had borrowed $2.53 billion under foreign economic assistance during four months (July to October) of the current fiscal year. Pakistan had received $2.5 billion as loan from multilateral and bilateral sources and commercial banks in four months. The amount is over 19 percent of the annual borrowing. The government of Pakistan had projected to borrow $12.957 billion from multilateral and bilateral creditors and commercial banks in the year 2019-20. However, borrowing from International Monetary Fund (IMF) would not be part of the $12.957 billion. Pakistan had so far received $991 million from the IMF in July this, which has not included in $2.5 billion that government borrowed in four months of the current fiscal year.