Pakistan joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1950, three years after Pakistan’s inception. Pakistan, as a newly established country, was facing fiscal issues. Eventually, Pakistan became the new client of the IMF in 1958, when Pakistan, for the first time, knocked on the door of the IMF for a bailout. From 1958 until now, whenever Pakistan undergo economic crises, the government borrows loans from IMF. Pakistan has received a total of twenty-two loans in 61 years following the recent in 2019. The timeline encapsulates the main programs of IMF in Pakistan (1958-2019);

• In 1958, Pakistan went to IMF for loans and Ayub Khan signed an agreement to obtain special drawing rights (SDR) of US$25,000,000 under the Standby Although, they were not withdrawn.
• In 1965, went again to IMF and borrowed US$37,500,000, the entire- agreed-upon amount. Not too long after, after three years in 1968, for the third time, IMF lent out US$72,000,000 to Pakistan for the balance of payment the payment
• In 1971, when Pakistan lost its East Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 caused huge losses to Pakistan. As a result, Pakistan got a loan of US$84,000,000 in 1972 and another loan of US$75,000,000 in 1973 and the third one of US$80,000,000 in 1977. From 1972 to 1974 and in 1977, Pakistan went to IMF consecutively three
• In 1980, Pakistan received two loans from IMF within the time of two years from 1980 to The IMF gave a total of SDR2.187 billion.
• In 1988, under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, from 1988 to 1997, Pakistan went into eight programs with IMF for Five out of eight programs were initiated by the government of the Pakistan

People’s Party (PPP) and the other three were under the governance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN). During their tenure, IMF gave an SDR1.64 billion loan to Pakistan.

• In 1999, during the Martial Law imposed by General Pervez Musharraf, however, General Pervez Musharraf was not seen as reluctant in seeking Eventually, on very low-interest rates, Pervez, in two attempts, secured SDR1.33 billion from IMF.
• In 2008, it was the time under PPP leadership, Pakistan secured the biggest bailout in its history. A total of SDR4.94 billion was to tackle economic issues such as the removal of some tax exemptions, developments in tax administration and the introduction of an interest rate corridor in
• In 2013, the government went to the IMF for a three years program, until As a result, Pakistan received its second-largest loan amounting to SDR4.399 billion.
• In 2019, due to IMF’s strict conditions, firstly Pakistan managed to arrange loans from its friendly countries namely; Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China. Nevertheless, when economic circumstances in the country worsened, the government decided to go to IMF, regardless of

IMF’s tough prerequisites. Thus, Pakistan got US$1 billion from IMF. The conditions by IMF included a hike in energy tariffs, removal of energy subsidies, increase in taxation, privatization of public entities and fiscal policies to the budget. All in all, Pakistan has borrowed SDR14.79 billion from IMF until now.