Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday expressed hope that Pakistan will finalize a much-awaited loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.
In an interview, the prime minister said the ninth review by the IMF was in line with all terms and conditions, adding, “Hopefully we will get some good news this month.” will”.
He further said that Pakistan has fulfilled all the requirements of the IMF as pre-emptive measures.
On contingency plans in case the IMF talks fail, the Prime Minister emphasized the resilience and resilience of the Pakistani nation.
He said the people of Pakistan had faced challenges in the past, and would “tighten their belts” and rise again if needed. The prime minister asserted that his government had been able to meet the challenges in the best possible way “with the help of the people of Pakistan” and with the help of “fraternal and friendly countries”.
Talking about the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Turkey, the Prime Minister described them as “one soul, two hearts that beat together”.
He congratulated the Turkish people on President Erdogan’s re-election, calling it a “wonderful development”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that Pakistan and Turkey will promote cooperation in the near future by focusing on areas like biogas, solar energy and hydropower to increase trade and promote mutual development.
Last week, Minister of State for Finance Dr. Ayesha Ghos Pasha ruled out the possibility of considering any other option — Plan B — if Pakistan were to revive the stalled loan program from the IMF, JEE News reported.
He said, “Let me state clearly that in case of non-revival of the fund programme, there was no other option under Plan B which we are considering as the government completes the pending ninth review of the IMF programme. determined to restore.”
Dr Pasha also revealed that the Washington-based lender is still sticking to its estimate of a financing gap of $6 billion for the current fiscal year, compared to Islamabad’s estimate of $4.5 billion, based on multilateral and bilateral aid. Creditors assured the IMF.
With the IMF’s ongoing program due to end on June 30, time is limited to complete the pending ninth review under the $6.5 billion Expanded Fund Facility (EFF).
If a staff-level agreement is reached by broad consensus on three controversial issues, including external financing, the budgetary framework, and the free-market exchange rate, the program will be reinstated, otherwise the program will be doomed to failure. .
However, sources say that Pakistan will have no choice but to seek another IMF program in the next financial year, considering the external debt repayments of 25 billion dollars.
This excludes the current account deficit and if projected in the range of $7-8 billion for the next financial year, the total external financing requirements would increase to $32-33 billion in 2023-24.
