Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of their stabilization program under Pakistan’s Stand-By Arrangement.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the IMF at the conclusion of delegation-level talks between the two sides in Islamabad.

The IMF delegation has been on Pakistan’s visit from 2nd to 15th of this month to hold discussions on the first review of Pakistan’s economic program supported by an IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).

According to the statement, the agreement is subject to approval of the IMF’s Executive Board and upon approval around 700 million US dollars will become available bringing total disbursements under the program to almost 1.9 billion US dollars.

The agreement supports the authorities’ commitment to advance the planned fiscal consolidation, accelerate cost-reducing reforms in the energy sector, complete the return to a market-determined exchange rate, and pursue state-owned enterprise and governance reforms to attract investment and support job creation, while continuing to strengthen social assistance.

The IMF team thanked the Pakistani authorities, private sector, and development partners for fruitful discussions and cooperation throughout this mission.