IMF Bailout Continues to Elude Pakistan: A Patient Nation in Anticipation

 

 Patience of Pakistani People Due to IMF Bailout Continues to Elude Pakistan

PAKISTAN LATEST:

Cash-strapped A crucial agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has still not been finalised, and thus prevents the delivery of a $1.1 billion rescue package. The country's central bank has stated that it only has enough foreign exchange reserves to cover imports for the next four weeks, despite the IMF's assertion that the debt is still manageable.
Ishaq Dar, the federal minister of finance for Pakistan, tweeted on Friday that the United Arab Emirates has informed the IMF that it will be providing $1 billion in financial assistance to Pakistan. The state bank is now gathering the paperwork required to request the deposit from the UAE authorities.

Aisha Ghaus Pasha, the minister of state for finance, told VOA on Thursday in Islamabad that Pakistan is anticipating the IMF will soon receive clearance from its external funding partners to permit the transfer of the money.
Although a staff-level agreement is not imminent, Pakistan appears to be closer to freeing the IMF's funding following Dar's tweet on Friday.

Jihad Azour, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia division, also told reporters on Friday that the nation must control double-digit inflation and uphold its monetary policy in order to encourage sustainable growth.
"Pakistan is at a crucial crossroads right now, and the nation needs to take decisive action to reform and stabilise the economy," Azour added.

Pakistan's inflation rate was predicted by the IMF to be 27% this week, while the country's GDP prognosis was downgraded to just 0.5% for the upcoming year. The exorbitant cost of commodities and gasoline has left the nation in ruins. The price of food was thought to be approximately 50% higher in March than it was a year earlier.
Because of this, some economists are concerned that the nation's debt issue may ultimately harm consumers. According to Uzair Younus, head of the Atlantic Council's Pakistan Initiative, "given the ongoing crisis, it is likely that Pakistan will eventually need debt restructuring, which would unleash even more pain on ordinary citizens,"

"Sooner or later the country will need a robust reform roadmap that persuades people to lend to the country again or go down the path of debt restructuring," Younus added.
The International Monetary Fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, stated this week that the organisation is making a lot of effort to make sure Pakistan has the necessary policy framework in place to prevent its debt from growing unmanageably high.
Pakistan is one of many nations that international credit agencies have warned might be at risk of default this year as their economies work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic's negative economic effects.
Last month, the London-based Fitch Ratings agency said that Belarus, Lebanon, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Zambia are the five Fitch-rated sovereigns that are now in default, setting a new record.