WASHINGTON: The executive board of International Monetary Fund completed on Friday the ninth review of Pakistan’s economic performance under a 36-month programme supported by an Extended Fund Facility arrangement.

The board’s decision results in the immediate disbursement of about $498.1 million, bringing the IMF’s total disbursements to about $4.98 billion.

On Sept 4, 2013, the IMF had approved the three-year extended arrangement of about $6.64bn for Pakistan.

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In completing the 9th review, the executive board also approved the authorities’ request for waiver of non-observance of the end-September 2015 performance criteria on the ceiling on overall budget deficit and the ceiling on net domestic assets of State Bank.

It also approved modification of the end-December 2015 performance criterion on net domestic assets of the SBP.

Earlier this year, the IMF endorsed economic policies of the government and revised the estimate for the country’s GDP growth for the current fiscal year to 4.3 per cent from 4.1pc.

The IMF expressed satisfaction with the overall progress made in pushing ahead with policies to strengthen macroeconomic stability and reviving investment and growth.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2015