The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed on Thursday that it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the combined seventh and eighth reviews for a $6 billion loan facility, a development that paves the way for the release of the much-awaited $1.17bn.
In a statement on its website, the IMF said the agreement was subject to approval by its Executive Board.
The announcement by the IMF comes after Finance Minister Miftah Ismail told Dawn on Wednesday that talks with the money lender had concluded and “they (IMF) are now going through their internal approval process”.
He said an announcement from the IMF on the successful completion of the seventh and eighth quarterly reviews of the stalled loan programme was expected soon.