The chances of Pakistan receiving a tranche of $1.20 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have become brighter as the Fund’s Executive Board meeting would be held today, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.
Pakistan will receive $1 billion under the loan programme, while $200 million under the climate financing.
The Fund had laid down the condition that prior to the board’s meeting, Pakistan should release its report on corruption and governance, which Pakistan did.
The international money lending organization’s staff mission has already expressed its satisfaction over the headway Pakistan’s economy has made.
The IMF, in its report, has acknowledged Pakistan’s strict monetary policy, and has recommended that the policy should continue.
Two weeks ago, the IMF, in its long-awaited Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA), had highlighted persistent corruption challenges in Pakistan driven by systemic weaknesses across state institutions and demanded immediate initiation of a 15-point reform agenda to improve transparency, fairness and integrity.
The report, the publication of which is a precondition for the IMF executive board’s approval of a $1.2 billion disbursement, estimated that Pakistan could boost economic growth by about 5 to 6.5 per cent over five years if it implemented a package of governance reforms beginning within the next three to six months.
The GCDA sought an end to special treatment for a few influential public sector entities in direct government contracts and transparency in the affairs and decision-making of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).
It also recommends tighter limits on the government’s financial powers without greater parliamentary oversight and streamlining of anti-corruption agencies.
The government had been delaying the publication of the report since August.
Reporter Waqas Azeem