'It met all required targets': IMF defends latest loan package to Pakistan after India demands reconsideration

IMF Defends Bailout Package To Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended its latest bailout package to Pakistan for $1 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore), saying that the country "met all the required targets".

The global bank's explanation came after India demanded that the IMF reconsider its loan to Pakistan, considering that Pakistan would likely use the funds to fund terror activities.

"I believe Pakistan will spend a large portion of the funds received from the International Monetary Fund on terror infrastructure. India wants the IMF to reconsider funding to Pakistan," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.

Pakistan was given the loan package while it was firing missiles and drones on several Indian cities after India launched Operation Sindoor to destroy terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While defending its loan to Pakistan, IMF's director of the communications department, Julie Kozack, said, "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 program."

"The first review was planned for the first quarter of 2025. And consistent with that timeline, on March 25 of 2025, the IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review for the EFF. That agreement, that staff-level agreement, was then presented to our Executive Board, which completed the review on May 9. As a result, Pakistan received the disbursement at that time," she added.