The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to sign a fresh loan agreement worth US$5.3 billion with Pakistan to prevent a balance of payments crisis as the country's current account deficit continues to widen and its foreign exchange reserves decline. The deal comes after failure to implement in full an $11.3 billion IMF loan program agreed to in 2008.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the visiting IMF Mission headed by Jeffrey Franks in Islamabad reached a deal last week for a fresh bailout in a bid to rebuild the country's foreign exchange reserves. The Pakistan-IMF talks for a new loan concluded at a time when the country's central bank has around $6 billion left inreserves, enough to cover less than six weeks of imports.
"We are entering into a fresh program with IMF to not only retire past liabilities but also to bring about structural reforms in the country," AFP reported Dar as telling a press conference in Islamabad last week. "We have successfully agreed over a program that is home-grown and consistent with the new government's policies."
Source: AsiaTimes
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the visiting IMF Mission headed by Jeffrey Franks in Islamabad reached a deal last week for a fresh bailout in a bid to rebuild the country's foreign exchange reserves. The Pakistan-IMF talks for a new loan concluded at a time when the country's central bank has around $6 billion left inreserves, enough to cover less than six weeks of imports.
"We are entering into a fresh program with IMF to not only retire past liabilities but also to bring about structural reforms in the country," AFP reported Dar as telling a press conference in Islamabad last week. "We have successfully agreed over a program that is home-grown and consistent with the new government's policies."
Source: AsiaTimes
