ISLAMABAD: The government has made the loan repayment of $147.6 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on November 11 while two other principal loan repayments to IMF are to be made this month as well, ARY News reported.
As per IMF calendar, Pakistan has to pay about $147-150 million on November 18 and $400 million on November 26, bringing the total to around $700 million for this month.
Furthermore, over $300 million will be paid to the World Bank and other lending agencies during the month.
The successive payments of loans have caused the significant outflow of the dollars from the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The central bank’s forex reserves declined to $4.2 billion as of Nov 1. The reserves are adequate for almost four to five weeks’ imports against the IMF’s projection of $5.6 billion.
Most importantly, the IMF has warned that the challenges on the balance of payments front are likely to persist for some time as falling dollar inflows have weakened the performance of the external sector. Hence, it is crucial that firm action be taken to rebuild the foreign exchange reserves.
The central bank has now remains with the reserves of $ 3.84 billion, which is the lowest level of reserves of the last five years.
