$352 million coalition support fund released by America for Pak

The US has paid second tranche of $ 352 million out of a total of $ 1.4 billion Coalition Support Fund (CSF) that Pakistan is budgeted to receive during the current fiscal year.

US Ambassador Richard Olson met Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and assured him that Washington will expedite the process of payment of the remaining amount of the CSF.

Dar briefed Olson about the recently concluded review meetings with the International Monetary Fund as well as his meetings with the UAE leadership and Etisalat management, an official statement here said.

On CSF, Dar thanked the US government for disbursing the tranche of $ 352 million for the January-March 2013 quarter and requested early processing and disbursement of remaining tranches.

Olson assured him that the US wants to further improve its friendly relations with Pakistan.

Pakistan had hoped to receive the second tranche in December last year.

US released the second tranche after Pakistan repaid 27th installment of $ 147 million to IMF as per the arranged programme.

For the current fiscal year, Pakistan has budgeted $ 1.4 billion on account of CSF disbursements.

The money that the country spends on defence and logistics while rendering services in global war against terrorism is later on disbursed by the US under the CSF.

The two also discussed the upcoming meeting of the Economic Working Group scheduled to be held in Washington in the second week of April.

Olson informed the Finance Minister that a four member delegation of Congress Defence Committee will be visiting Pakistan later this week.