The International Monetary Fund announced on Friday that its board had finished reviewing several of its agreements with Pakistan, making it possible for the South Asian country to instantly access approximately $1.32 billion in new cash.
According to the IMF, Pakistan could receive approximately $220 million under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility and approximately $1.1 billion under the Extended Fund Facility, bringing the total disbursements under the two existing programs to approximately $4.8 billion. The IMF's executive board voted to endorse a deal it had previously made with Pakistan, according to a Reuters report earlier on Friday that cited sources. The nation signed a staff-level agreement in March and is currently enrolled in a $7 billion IMF program.

"Amid a more challenging and highly uncertain external environment since the onset of the war in the Middle ‌East, Pakistan needs to maintain strong macroeconomic policies while accelerating reform efforts," the IMF stated in a statement. For the first time in over three years, Pakistan's central bank increased its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.5% in April.The IMF continued, "The State Bank of Pakistan has taken proactive steps to maintain an appropriately tight monetary policy stance.