Pakistan is set to receive $1.2 billion as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has scheduled its Executive Board meeting for December 8, officials confirmed.
The tranche is expected to be released on December 9, marking a significant boost to the country’s foreign reserves.
The funding package includes $1 billion under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $200 million under the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF). These disbursements follow the Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) reached on October 14, covering the EFF’s second review and the RSF’s first review. With this release, total disbursements under the two arrangements will rise to approximately $3.3 billion.
IMF officials, led by Iva Petrova, conducted discussions in Karachi and Islamabad from September 24 to October 8, and in Washington, DC, to conclude the SLA. The Fund cited strong programme implementation, emphasizing the need to sustain fiscal discipline, support flood-affected households, manage inflation within the State Bank of Pakistan’s target, restore energy-sector viability, and advance structural reforms. The RSF-backed climate agenda also remains a priority, especially in light of recent flood impacts.
Ahead of the Board meeting, the IMF has urged Pakistan to publish and act on its Governance and Corruption Diagnostic (GCD) report. Key recommendations include making the Special Investment Facilitation Council fully transparent, creating a central registry for state-owned land and entities, conducting performance assessments of judges, publishing asset declarations of bureaucrats, and removing the Finance Secretary from the SBP board. While the Finance Ministry cannot legally block the report, its release has been repeatedly delayed since the original July deadline.
Meanwhile, an IMF technical mission is in Islamabad reviewing Pakistan’s budget-making process and the functioning of the newly established Tax Policy Office (TPO) under the Ministry of Finance. The mission aims to ensure medium-term budget planning, transparency in revenue and expenditure projections, and traceability of the entire budget process. Officials noted that recommendations from the technical mission could lead to the placement of structural benchmarks, with the IMF’s review mission expected to visit Pakistan in February–March 2026 to finalise budget proposals for 2026-27.
