IMF approves release of $1.2 billion to Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund said its executive board approved the release of USD 1.2 billion to Pakistan under a $11.35 billion loan program to the cash-starved nation.

The International Monetary Fund said its executive board approved the release of USD 1.2 billion to Pakistan under a $11.35 billion loan program to the cash-starved nation.

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With the release following a review of the country's economic performance, total disbursements under the program
amounted to about $6.54 billion, the IMF said in a statement yesterday.

The executive board also approved Pakistan's request for a waiver for not meeting budget deficit targets, the
statement said.

Pakistan approached the IMF last year for a rescue package as it grappled with a 30-year high inflation rate and
fast-depleting reserves that were barely enough to cover nine weeks of import bills.

The insurgency-wracked South Asian nation was also promised USD 5.7 billion in aid over two years at a donors
conference in April.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has suffered a wave of Islamist bombings since July 2007, has been rocked by a spike
in bloodshed killing recently.

Militants have recently stepped up attacks on civilians as part of a bombing campaign against the Pakistani
government's alliance with the US in the war on Islamist extremists.