The International Monetary Fund justified that its executive board granted USD one billion in assistance to Pakistan earlier this month after they met all conditions and targets for it despite India's apprehensions that the funds could be used for cross-border terrorism.
The IMF carried out a review of its extended fund facility (EFF) granted to Pakistan in September last year and based on it, the board approved the amount on May 9, said Julie Kozack, a director at global body's communications department.
The bailout was approved at a time when India and Pakistan was engaged in cross-border firing, a day before the two South-Asian neighbours announced ceasefire.
India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on May 16 pressed the IMF to reconsider the financial assistance, saying Islamabad could use a large part of it to fund the terrorist infrastructure.
IMF Statement
At a media briefing Kozack, answering a question, said the IMF executive board approved Pakistan's EFF programme in September last year and the first review at that time was planned for the first quarter of 2025.
The fresh assistance was granted following completion of the review, she said.
At the same time, Kozack said any deviation from the established programme conditions would impact future reviews under the Pakistan programme.
"What I want to emphasise here is that it is part of a standard procedure under programs that our executive board conducts periodic reviews of lending programmes to assess their progress," she said.
"And they particularly look at whether the programme is on track, whether the conditions under the programme have been met, and whether any policy changes are needed to bring the programme back on track." "And in the case of Pakistan, our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the board went ahead and approved the programme," the IMF official said.
On the use of funds, Kozack said the IMF financing is provided to members for the purpose of resolving balance of payments problems. Generally explaining the case of Pakistan, she said all of the disbursements received under the EFF are allocated to the reserves of the central bank.
"So, those disbursements are at the central bank, and under the programme, those resources are not part of budget financing. They are not transferred to the government to support the budget," she said.
Kozack said the EFF programme provides additional safeguards through "our conditionality".
"And these include, for example, targets on the accumulation of international reserves. It includes a zero target, meaning no lending from the central bank to the government," she said.
"And the programme also includes substantial structural conditionality around improving fiscal management."
India Has Consistently Condemned IMF's Loan To Pakistan, Claiming It to Be 'Indirect Funding' To Terror Infrastructure
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the first review of Pakistan바카라s economic reform program and approved a disbursement of around $1 billion (SDR 760 million) on May 9, 2025, a day before India and Paksitan announced ceasefire.
India had abstained from the voting on the International Monetary Fund바카라s (IMF) proposed $1.3 billion bailout package for Pakistan, saying the latter country had a 바카라poor track record바카라 in effectively utilising previous financial aid.
India again on May 16 called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reconsider its $1-billion assistance to Pakistan, suggesting that Islamabad could use it for terror funding.
During an address to military personnel Madhya Pradesh's Bhuj, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India does not want that the funding it gives to the IMF should be used directly or indirectly to create terror infrastructure in Pakistan or any other country.
바카라India would like the IMF to reconsider its assistance of one billion dollars to Pakistan and refrain from giving any kind of assistance in future," he said.
In his address, he said that the $1 billion IMF assistance to Pakistan would be used to fund terror infrastructure, and wondered if that would not be considered 바카라indirect funding바카라 by an international organisation.
