The International Monetary Fund has approved the second last loan tranche of $501 million to Pakistan amid fresh concerns the country may go off-track after the completion of its three-year programme.Prior to the approval on Monday, the IMF Executive Board completed the 11th review of Pakistan’s economic performance for the January-March period under a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, according to a brief statement issued by the IMF from Washington.Sources said the IMF directors at the board meeting feared Islamabad would abandon the reforms after the completion of the programme. Independent economists have also expressed similar concerns.After the completion of the IMF programme in September this year, the recently approved budget for FY2016-17 is likely to undergo major changes as the government has grossly understated its expenditures, sources added.The executive board’s decision enables the immediate disbursement of about $501 million, bringing total disbursements to $6.01 billion, the IMF statement added.The board also approved further increasing the limit on net foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for April-June period. However, it relaxed the criterion on reducing the net domestic assets for April-June period.Earlier, the target of Net International Reserves (NIR) – the gross official foreign SBP currency reserves minus liabilities for April-June period were $10.7 billion, which the IMF has asked Pakistan to increase further to bolster the reserves position. However, the lending agency relaxed the condition to restrict the NDA to Rs2.65 trillion to meet the higher currency demand.The last review for the period of April-June will begin in September and its successful completion will result in the release of the final tranche of about $102 million.Despite remaining under the IMF radar for about three years, the government has failed miserably in plugging tax pilferages, as public-sector enterprises continue incurring huge losses due to postponement of critical reforms in the energy sector and the government shelved privatisation of power sector.Although the government did not seek any major waiver for January-March quarter, the IMF had given over 15 major waivers during its previous reviews to keep the programme on track despite dismal performance in critical areas.In its earlier handouts, the IMF has said complete implementation of reforms will require continued efforts well beyond the programme period and will help set Pakistan on a permanently high growth trajectory.The government had met all end-March 2016 quantitative performance criteria, including the budget deficit target and the floor on the SBP’s net international reserves. Tax revenue collection target for the third quarter was, however, missed by a small margin.Published in The Express Tribune, June 28, 2016.