ISLAMABAD: Taking about Rs92 billion liability on the public purse, Pakistan on Friday approved phasing out of the Rs330bn subsidised export financing scheme from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to meet another condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) currently holding back the Staff-Level Agreement for disbursement of $1.1bn instalment.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, and attended by three other ECC members — ministers for petroleum, power, and investment.

On the request of the Ministry of Finance, the “ECC decided that the State Bank of Pakistan’s Long-Term Financing Facility (LTFF) portfolio of Rs330 billion would be phased out to the Exim Bank, with an allocation of Rs1.001bn through a Technical Supplementary Grant to meet the LTFF subsidy requirement for the new portfolio for FY25”, said an official statement.

With the consent of the IMF and under the phasing out plan of the LTFF to Exim Bank, “SBP’s portfolio of Rs330 billion is to be taken over by the Exim........

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