THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the first review of a $3 billion bailout, where the country will receive $700 million after approval from IMF's executive board, the organisation said on Wednesday (15).
Earlier, the Pakistani prime minister's office in a statement said that the Pakistan mission chief for the IMF said Islamabad had met targets set for the first review of the bailout.
IMF Mission chief Nathan Porter acknowledged the efforts made by the government of Pakistan in meeting the various quarterly targets, the statement said. "These efforts have resulted in positive conclusion of the technical level talks," the statement quoted him saying.
An IMF mission has been in Pakistan for the last two weeks for technical- and policy-level talks to review whether the government was on track to meet benchmarks set under the $3 billion standby arrangement agreed in July.
(Reuters)
