International Monetary Fund says Pakistan has made progress toward securing the next one billion dollars tranche under its current program as well as agreeing to a new loan for climate-related action.

According to Bloomberg, Head of the IMF Mission to Pakistan Nathan Porter, in a statement, said the IMF program implementation has been strong, and the discussions have made considerable progress in several areas.

Nathan Porter said progress has also been made in discussions on the authorities’ climate reforms agenda, which aims to reduce vulnerabilities from natural disasters-related risks.

The Bloomberg report said Pakistan will be on track to receive the second one billion dollars installment of the seven billion dollars loan package it secured last year once the fund and the government reached a staff-level agreement.

It further said to meet the demands of the loan agreement, the government has taken several ambitious steps, including approving a law to tax agricultural income.

The Bloomberg report further commented that in the past months, foreign exchange reserves have risen, while inflation has cooled, giving the Pakistan’s central bank room to support economic growth. It said both Moody’s and Fitch have upgraded Pakistan’s credit ratings last year.