The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defended its recent $1 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore) bailout package to Pakistan, stating that the country “met all the required targets” to qualify for the disbursement. The IMF’s Executive Board reviewed and allowed a payment of $1 billion to Pakistan on May 9 when Islamabad was busy with artillery shelling and drone attacks on India after the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor – a military strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Standing by the bailout, IMF’s director of the communications department, Julie Kozack, said, “Our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the Board went ahead and approved the program.” “The first review was planned for the first quarter of 2025. And consistent with that timeline, on March 25 of 2025, the IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review for the EFF. That agreement, that staff-level agreement, was then presented to our Executive Board, which completed the review on May 9. As a result, Pakistan received the disbursement at that time,” she added during a media briefing. The IMF disbursed $2.1 billion to Pakistan in two instalments under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. The $7 billion agreement between Pakistan and the global lender was signed last year. Kozack also spoke about the India-Pakistan conflict, expressing hope for a peaceful resolution between the two nations. “With respect to Pakistan and the conflict with India, I want to start here by first expressing our regrets and sympathies for the loss of life and for the human toll from the recent conflict. We do hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” she said. Notably, IMF’s clarification came days after India asked it to reconsider its $2.1 billion bailout to Pakistan as it allows Islamabad to use a large part of the aid to fund terror infrastructure. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last week said that the aid to Pakistan is a “form of indirect funding to terror”. “Will this not be considered indirect funding (of terror) by the IMF? The funds India gives to IMF should not be used, directly or indirectly, to create terror infra in Pakistan or any other country,” Singh said.