Pakistan, which is flirting with a debt default, has secured a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US $ 3 billion stand-by arrangement, foreign media reported.

The deal is subject to the approval of the IMF Executive Board in July.

Pakistan is undergoing an acute balance of payment crisis and the country has witnessed a sharp fall in its foreign reserves. 

The agreement will enable Pakistan to achieve economic stability, and put the country "on the path of sustainable economic growth, God willing," Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was quoted as saying.

The US $3 billion funding, spread over nine months, is higher than expected. The country was awaiting the release of the remaining US $2.5 billion from a US $6.5 billion bailout package agreed in 2019, which expires today (30^th).

The new IMF deal is expected to unlock other bilateral and multilateral financing for Pakistan, specially from countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have already pledged around US $ 3 billion in support.