WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that data indicates Pakistan has met its end-December targets under its 23-month IMF funding programme, suggesting the government is making some headway in its balance of payments crisis.

‘Initial developments under the program have been positive,’ IMF spokesman David Hawley told a regular news briefing.
 
‘The foreign exchange rate has appreciated somewhat and preliminary information suggests that end-December targets for net international reserves and net domestic assets at the State Bank of Pakistan were met,’ he added.
  
Earlier Thursday, the State Bank of Pakistan announced that its foreign exchange reserves rose $260 million to $10.21 billion in the week ending Jan. 24. This, however, includes $500 million from China to help rebuild reserves, which had declined to dangerously low levels last year.
 
Responding to another question, the IMF spokesman said no date had yet been fixed for sending an IMF mission to Pakistan for reviewing the programme. ‘The next assessment will take place in the first programme review which is scheduled to be completed by March,’ he added.
 
Earlier media reports, however, suggested that IMF and Pakistan officials may meet in Dubai between Feb. 14 and 24.
 
Pakistan and the IMF agreed on a $7.6 billion loan deal in November to steady the country's finances and stave off a balance of payments crisis and possible default on its foreign debt.
 
At the time, the Pakistani rupee had fallen sharply against the dollar and the country's stock market dived after foreign investors took flight amid a global credit crisis that had heightened Pakistan's economic woes.
 
The next talks with the IMF will focus on the second tranche of $775 million. Pakistan has already received $3.1 billion from the IMF bailout package.
 
The spokesman’s assessment that Pakistan has met its end-December targets indicates that Pakistan will qualify for the next tranche.
 
The final decision, however, will be taken by the IMF executive board, which is expected to meet in March.
 
The third tranche of $750 million will be released in June but to qualify Pakistan has to raise the power tariff by about 22 percent. This would strengthen the fiscal health of Pakistan Electric Power Company.
 
For the fourth tranche, the government will have to end the subsidy of Rs 77 billion it gives to the power sector.
 
The elimination of the subsidy will lead to an increase in power tariff, which may cause violent protests by the consumers already agitated by long power blackouts known as the load-shedding.