Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that the new $7 billion aid package deal reached between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would help bring macroeconomic stability to the country, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The programme, which needs to be approved by the IMF’s Executive Board, should enable Pakistan to “cement macroeconomic stability and create conditions for stronger, more inclusive and resilient growth,” the IMF said in a statement.

Commenting on the deal on Saturday, Aurangzeb said it would aid Pakistan in achieving macroeconomic stability.

Under the programme “we need to ensure structural reforms and bring self-sustainability in areas of public finance, energy, and state-owned institutions.”

Faced with chronic mismanagement, Pakistan’s economy has found itself on the brink, challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of the war in Ukraine and supply difficulties that fuelled inflation, as well as record flooding that affected a third of the country in 2022.

With its foreign currency reserves dwindling, Pakistan found itself in a debt crisis and was forced to turn to the IMF, obtaining its first emergency loan in the summer of 2023.