ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund's executive board will discuss Pakistan's $7 billion bailout programme on Sept. 25, local broadcaster Geo News reported on Thursday, allaying fears of a prolonged delay in much-needed funds for the country.

The South Asian nation struck a staff level agreement with the global lender in June, but board approval for the 37-month programme has been pending since then.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said earlier on Thursday that "friendly countries" had played a major role in helping meet requirements placed before Islamabad by the IMF, which included arranging additional external financing and rolling over debt.

He said he would not provide further details on the assistance at this moment. Pakistani officials had said they were trying to arrange up to $2 billion to meet a financing gap, and were in discussions with commercial banks for this.

Islamabad has for years relied on China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for financial assistance to meet external financing requirements and avoid sovereign default, which it came close to last summer.

Pakistan's sovereign dollar bonds rallied on Thursday afternoon, with the 2031 maturity trading 1 cent higher to bid at 79.93 cents on the dollar, according to Tradeweb data.

(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; additional reporting by Libby George; Editing by Susan Fenton)