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On Sunday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had not published the tranche for the USD 6 billion government bailout under its extended fund facility, despite forcing the country to “dance to its tune.”
In response to a question about the IMF, Mr Sanaullah stated that the government had accepted terms “that we did not agree with.” He also urged the worldwide lender to release the tranche as soon as possible so that the country could get out of its “difficult situation,” according to Geo News.
According to the federal minister, Pakistan is currently experiencing economic difficulties.
“For the sake of the country, we must make difficult decisions that will lead to the country’s improvement,” Mr Sanaullah added.
Mr Sanaullah said the previous government, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was ruled by a group that “did nothing else but carry out a vendetta.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan planned to borrow 5.5 trillion Pakistani Rupees (PKR) from foreign creditors in the current fiscal year in order to maintain foreign exchange reserves, repay previous loans, and finance the current account deficit.
Previously, the Pakistan government projected that it would borrow only PKR 3.17 trillion from foreign bodies in its annual budget for 2022-23. However, the budget did not include funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi Arabia, or the SAFE China deposit, according to Pakistani newspaper The Nation.
After incorporating funding from the aforementioned sources, the volume of projected worldwide borrowing has now increased to PKR 5.5 trillion.
This new borrowing will be 74% higher than the government’s previous estimates. Following the revision, the projected external resources of PKR 5.503 trillion for 2022-23 are more than 200 percent higher than the initial PKR 2.7 trillion money earmarked for 2021-22.
According to The Nation, the present govt is still struggling to secure dollars and will require USD 41 billion in external financing in the coming fiscal year.
The government would be required to repay the previous loan of USD 21 billion, and the current account deficit is expected to be USD 12 billion, with an additional USD 8 billion required to increase foreign currency reserves to USD18 billion in the coming fiscal year.
As a result, the government intends to borrow a lot in the current fiscal year.
