Pakistan secured a badly needed $3 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA) from the International Monetary Fund on Friday, giving the South Asian economy a much-awaited respite as it teeters on the brink of default.
The staff-level agreement on the SBA is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board.
On Monday, news of Pakistan reaching a staff-level agreement on a $3 billion standby arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spurred positive sentiment in the business community, which responded by rallying the stock market by six percent.
This was the largest single-day hike that the index had seen since the weekend of April 10, 2022, when Imran Khan was ousted from power.
On Monday morning, the weekend news of the deal with IMF worth $3 billion and the conditions of opening imports and letting the market determine the value of the rupee meant that the business community had an overall positive reaction.
From closing at 41,452.68 last Tuesday, the index opened at an elevated level of 43,683.78 points, up 2,231.10 points.
In what was the first session after the long Eidul Azha holidays and the first session of the new fiscal year, the index climbed by 38.14 points in the opening session to the level of 43,721.92 points before plunging 317.23 points to a day low of 43,404.69 points.
But the index then steadily rallied for the remainder of the next hour and a half and rose to a day high of 43,933.94.
At that point, it cumulatively meant that the index had gained 5.86% over the previous day.
Past the midday break, the index settled at a comfortable level of 43,812.84 points, or around 2,360 points above the previous day’s close (5.69% up).
The index closed the day at 43,899 points, up 2,446.32 points (5.90%) over the previous trading day.
On Friday, the IMF announced it had reached a staff-level agreement on a standby agreement for $3 billion. The standby agreement still needs to be ratified by the IMF board, but in the process, it did signal that the extended fund facility previously given to Pakistan under the Imran Khan government had lapsed without a successful conclusion.
The SBA also calls on the government to open imports and to let the value of the rupee be dictated by the market.
The last time the index witnessed such a gain was on April 2022, the weekend after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power after losing a vote of no-confidence, and was replaced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Back then, the index had jumped by 1,700.38 points from 44,444.58 points on April 8 to 46,144.96 points on April 11.