HispanicBusiness

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Wednesday it completed the third review of Portugal's performance under a three-year 27.6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, which enabled the immediate disbursement of 5.17 billion euros loan for Portugal.

This brought the total disbursement under the EFF to 18.56 billion euros, the IMF said in a statement.

The EFF arrangement, which was approved in May 2011, is part of a cooperative package of financing with the European Union (EU) amounting to 78 billion euros over three years.

Recent progress on advancing fiscal structural reform, including developing new commitment control procedures, addressing arrears and restructuring public enterprises, "should help support the ongoing consolidation efforts," said Nemat Shafik, IMF's deputy managing director.

She also cautioned that it would be important to continue monitoring the effectiveness of these reforms to limit fiscal risks and ensure deficit targets are met.

The EFF mechanism is typically three years in duration and aims at providing assistance to countries experiencing serious medium- term payments imbalances.