Pakistan’s finance minister on Thursday said the International Monetary Fund deposited a much-awaited first installment of $1.2 billion with the country’s central bank under a recently signed bailout deal aimed at helping the impoverished Islamic nation avoid defaulting on its debt repayments.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in televised remarks said the remaining $1.8 billion would be received from the IMF over the next nine months. The funds will bolster the country's foreign exchange reserves, which shrank to less than $4 billion in recent months, raising fears of a default.
