IMF, Pakistan reach preliminary deal on $1.2 billion payout

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on its loan programme, which would allow the country to access $1.2 billion after a review.

Subject to a board review, the IMF will provide Pakistan $1 billion under its Extended Fund Facility and $200 million under its Resilience and Sustainability Facility, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about $3.3 billion.

Pakistan's finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said earlier on Tuesday that the country was set to sign a preliminary deal with the IMF, a key step to securing more funding from the lender.

An IMF team left Pakistan last week without signing staff-level agreements on reviews of its two main support programmes which are worth a combined $8.4 billion.