Islamabad (Web Desk): The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board is meeting today (Wednesday) to decide on endorsing the staff-level agreement with Pakistan.
On June 30, Pakistan signed a short-term IMF deal under a standby arrangement, under which the nation is set to receive $3 billion over nine months, subject to approval by the global lenders board.
As per the sources, the board is also likely to approve the issuance of the first installment of $1.1 billion under the $3 billion loan agreement.
It is pertinent to mention that the matter of external financing has also been settled between the Ministry of Finance and the global money lender has accepted the financing gap plan of $8.2 billion sent by the ministry.
Meanwhile, Pakistan also submitted a letter of intent to the IMF, assuring the lender that no new tax amnesty would be introduced in the next nine months.
The letter, signed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the SBP governor, guaranteed the removal of trade barriers and upholding commitments to other financial institutions and bilateral donors that have provided loans to the country.
Earlier on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia also deposited $2 billion into the account of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar said that the brotherly country Saudi Arabia has deposited $2 billion with SBP, increasing the total foreign exchange reserves to around $11.7 billion.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, the minister said that Saudi Arabia had made an announcement recently that it would deposit its $2 billion with SBP.
"This would be a straight away increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves that stood at around $9.7 billion on last Friday," he said, however he added that the new position of exchange reserves would be reflected from coming Friday.
