A few days after India’s protest, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended the $2.4 billion bailout package given to Pakistan. The IMF said that Pakistan has fulfilled all the funding conditions due to which this package has been approved. On May 9, 2025, when the IMF board meeting was being held to approve this package, India objected to giving the loan and did not participate in the voting. India had said – the package should be reconsidered, because Pakistan can use this money to promote terrorism. However, the IMF did not accept it. IMF’s $2.4 billion package includes two components 1. Extended Fund Facility (EFF): An installment of $1.023 billion (about Rs 8.76 thousand crores) was received by the State Bank of Pakistan on May 14, 2025. With this, its foreign exchange reserves reached $10.3 billion (about Rs 88 thousand crores). The goal of the EFF is to stabilize Pakistan’s economy and increase reserves. A target of $13.9 billion (about Rs 120 thousand crores) of reserves has been set by June 2025. The fund of $1.023 billion released is part of the $7 billion (about 60 thousand crores Indian rupees) package approved in September 2024. It is to be given at different intervals in 37 months. The first installment of $1.1 billion was released on 26 September 2024, immediately after the approval of the package. That is, out of the $7 billion EFF in two installments, $2.123 billion (about Rs 18 thousand crores) has been released. 2. Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF): Under this, $1.4 billion has been approved on May 9. However, it has not been disbursed yet. This package is for works such as improving disaster response and promoting sustainable water resource management. Loan issued after review IMF completed its first review for giving loans on 9 May 2025. IMF does this on three parameters… The review was done in three parts: Now answers to some other important questions: 1. What does the Executive Board of IMF do? IMF is an international organization, which helps countries financially, advises them and monitors their economy. The core team of this organization is the Executive Board. This team sees which country to give loan to, which policies to implement and how to work on the world economy. It has 24 members who are called executive directors. Each member represents a country or a group of countries. 2. Is voting done on the basis of quota in IMF? IMF has 191 member countries. Everyone has the right to one vote, but the value of the vote is different. This is decided on the basis of the quota given to that country in the IMF. That is, the higher the quota, the higher the value of the vote. The value of India’s vote is around 2.75%. How much quota a country will have in the IMF is decided by its economic condition (like GDP), foreign exchange reserves, trade and economic stability. America’s quota is the highest at 16.5%, therefore its vote in the IMF is the most powerful like a veto. India’s is 2.75% while Pakistan’s is 0.43%. 3. What percentage of votes is required to take a decision? 85% votes are required to take any decision in the IMF. America has the maximum voting rights of 16.5%. In such a situation, if America does not vote, then the combined total of all the votes will be only 83.5% which is not sufficient for a majority.
