The Pakistani economic team to the World Bank-IMF spring meetings is coming back home without reaching any agreement about the release of the last tranche of an $11.3 bn loan package. The country has already received over $7 bn in five installments. The sixth installment, however, remains blocked since last May due to Islamabad’s failure to fulfill performance benchmarks linked to the agreement. “There are no indications that the delegation was able to convince the IMF to release the next tranche,” said a diplomatic source. “And until the 6th tranche is released, it is highly unlikely that the IMF will hold any negotiations on a future arrangement.”
