IMF board yet to fix date to consider SBA review for release of $1.1bn

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s executive board has not yet fixed any date for considering the completion of second review and release of the third tranche of $1.1 billion under the Standby Arrangement (SBA) programme.

The IMF’s executive board is likely to take up the matter after the IMF/World Bank Annual Spring Meeting, which is to be held in Washington DC from April 15 to 20. When an IMF official based in Washington was inquired about the meeting, he said, “We have not fixed a date yet. We will let you know when we do.”

This scribe contacted another high-level official who said Pakistan needed to strike a staff-level agreement till the expiry of SBA programme by April 12, 2024. The task has been accomplished, and it will be up to the convenience of fund’s Executive Board to consider approval of the last tranche by the end of April 2024.

Pakistan and the IMF struck a staff-level agreement on March 20, 2024, after holding review talks from March 14 to 19 in Islamabad. The draft memorandum of economic and financial policies was already shared with Pakistani authorities.

Now, Pakistani authorities are contemplating to finalise the letter of intent which will be signed by Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb and the governor SBP and dispatched to the IMF to complete the second review and for the release the last and final $1.1 billion tranche under the SBA programme. Pakistan had already received $1.9 billion from the IMF under the ongoing SBA programme.