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Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement for a new $7 billion loan deal, the International Monetary Fund said Friday, the country’s latest turn to the global lender for help in propping up its economy and dealing with its debts through big bailouts.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the IMF approved<\/a> the immediate release of the final $1.1 billion tranche of a $3 billion bailout<\/a> to Pakistan. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government planned to seek a long-term loan to help stabilize the economy after the end of that bailout package.<\/p>\n The new loan deal will last for 37 months. It is aimed at strengthening fiscal and monetary policy as well as reforms to broaden the tax base, improve the management of state-owned enterprises, strengthen competition, secure a level playing field for investment, enhance human capital, and scale up social protection through increased generosity and coverage in a major welfare program, the IMF said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe program aims to capitalize on the hard-won macroeconomic stability achieved over the past year by furthering efforts to strengthen public finances, reduce inflation, rebuild external buffers and remove economic distortions to spur private sector-led growth,\u201d said Nathan Porter, IMF\u2019s mission chief to Pakistan.<\/p>\n The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF\u2019s executive board.<\/p>\n