Pakistan gets second tranche of $848m from IMF

KARACHI ( 2009-04-02 11:07:58 ) :Pakistan has received a second tranche worth $848 million of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan approved last year to avert a balance of payments crisis, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday.

"We have received the second tranche of $848 million," said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman of the State Bank.

Pakistan agreed in November to an IMF emergency loan package of $7.6 billion. It got a first tranche of $3.1 billion that month.

The IMF approved the second tranche on Monday when it said the Pakistani economy was gradually recovering from the macroeconomic and external imbalances of 2007 and 2008, and a programme aimed at restoring financial stability while protecting the poor was "firmly on track".

Pakistan also received $500 million from the World Bank on Tuesday. The World Bank approved the $500 million interest-free loan last week to help stabilise the economy in the face of political and economic turmoil and investor uncertainty.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose by $100 million to $10.26 billion in the week that ended on March 21, the State Bank said last week.

The State Bank's reserves rose to $6.79 billion from $6.69 billion a week earlier while reserves held by commercial banks were flat at $3.47 billion, the bank said.

The latest data for foreign exchange reserves is due later in the day. The $500 million from the World Bank and $848 million from the IMF would be reflected in data released next week.

Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell to $6.6 billion in November last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.

The rupee was flat at 80.55/62 to the dollar at 11:17 a.m. (0617 GMT) compared with Wednesday's close of 80.52/60.

Dealers say they expected the rupee to weaken in the medium- to long-term despite foreign inflows because of a slowdown in the economy.