Islamabad, July 13, 2023 (PPI-OT): Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says Pakistan has received the first tranche of 1.2 billion dollars under the stand by arrangement reached with the IMF. In a televised message today, he said the IMF’s Executive Board meeting approved the nine month stand by arrangement of three billion dollars last night.

The Finance Minister said the receipt of IMF’s tranche will further improve our foreign exchange reserves. He pointed out that the reserves of State Bank of Pakistan has increased by four point two billion dollars this week. He said it is expected that our foreign exchange reserves will be between thirteen and fourteen billion dollars when the central bank will share the exact figures tomorrow at the close of the week.

The Finance Minister said Pakistan will receive the remaining 1.8 billion dollars from the IMF after two reviews in November and February. Ishaq Dar said this stand by arrangement has been limited to nine months so that the next elected government could take its own decisions. The Finance Minister expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the support extended by him in reaching the stand by arrangement with the IMF. He was also appreciative of his economic team for supporting him during this difficult process.

The Finance Minister said Pakistan has been put on the positive journey, stressing for collective efforts to further consolidate these gains and take the country towards positive growth trajectory.

For more information, contact:

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Government of Pakistan

4th Floor, Cabinet Block, Pak. Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan

Tel: +92-51-9103557

Email: info@moib.gov.pk

Website: http://www.moib.gov.pk