NEW DELHI: Indian police said on Saturday they had arrested the social media chief of the country’s main opposition party over accusations
Pakistan to complete IMF terms: Shehbaz Sharif
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said he had expressed his government’s resolve to complete the terms of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme, in a conversation with the lender’s managing director yesterday.
The telephone conversation comes as Pakistan’s economy is increasingly febrile, with foreign exchange reserves amounting to fewer than three weeks of imports.
“In a phone call with Managing Director [Kristalina Georgieva] of the IMF yesterday, I told her about the government’s resolve to complete the terms of IMF’s program,” PM Shehbaz said on Twitter.
“I also explained Pakistan’s economic difficulties especially after the devastating floods. IMF delegation will come to Pakistan soon.”
The premier’s statement comes a day after he said an IMF delegation would come to Pakistan in “two to three days” to finalise the ninth review of Pakistan’s $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Pakistan entered a $6 billion IMF programme in 2019, which was increased to $7bn last year. The programme’s ninth review, which would release $1.18bn, is currently pending. It had earlier been put off for two months due to the PML-N-led government’s unwillingness to accept certain conditions placed before it by the Fund, and the disagreements have yet to be resolved.
Cash crunch
The country is currently in the midst of a severe cash crunch, with foreign exchange reserves in the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) depleting to an eight-year low of $5.576 billion during the week ended on Dec 30, 2022.
This decline left no space for the government to pay back its foreign debts without borrowing more from friendly countries.
Despite fast dwindling SBP reserves, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is still hopeful about reverting the situation with expected financial help promised by the friendly countries, but nothing has been realised so far.
During the week the SBP foreign exchange reserves saw an outflow of $245 million for external debt repayments.
Foreign debt servicing is the most troubling question for the PMLN-led coalition government facing a serious threat of default. Several attempts to restart talks with the IMF for the release of the next tranche have so far remained unfruitful.
You May Also Like
LAHORE: A delegation of Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Aien (movement for protection of constitution), led by its president Mahmood Khan Achakzai,
LAHORE: As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledges to “protect the interests of farmers at all costs”, the federal government appears reluctant
