Pakistan Stock Exchange Spikes After IMF Deal

Mon Jul 03 2023
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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani stock market started trading in the green on Monday with the benchmark KSE-100 index surging more than 2,000 points following the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The market witnesseed rise of 2,269.23 points at 9:32am from Friday’s close of 41,452.68 points before trading was stopped for an hour after the index hit its upper circuit limit.

The analyst said that the market had approximately gained 5%. They attributed the surge to Pakistan’s staff-level agreement with the IMF for a 3 billion dollar stand-by arrangement.

Pakistan had secured a badly-needed 3 billion dollars short-term loan package from the IMF on Friday, giving a much-awaited respite to the economy on the brink of default.

IMF deal

The agreement, subject to approval by the IMF board in mid-July, came after an eight-month long delay and offers some respite to Pakistan, which is battling a serious balance of payments crisis and shrinking forex reserves.

The 3 billion dollars funding, spread over 9 months, was higher than expected as Pakistan was awaiting the release of the remaining 2.5 billion dollars from a 6.5 billion dollars bailout package agreed in 2019, which expired on 30 June.

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