IMF and Pakistan hold talks on financial assistance
2023.01.08 09:56
IMF and Pakistan hold talks on financial assistance
Budrigannews.com – A spokesperson for the lender said on Sunday that a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet Pakistan’s finance minister on the sidelines of a conference that starts on January 9 in Geneva. This comes as Pakistan struggles to restart its bailout program.
Pakistan only has enough foreign currency reserves to cover one month’s worth of imports because the lender has yet to approve the release of the $1.1 billion that was originally scheduled to be distributed in November of last year.
In a message to Reuters, an IMF spokesperson stated, “The IMF delegation is expected to meet with Finance Minister (Ishaq) Dar on the sidelines of the Geneva conference to discuss outstanding issues and the path forward.”
The goal of the Geneva conference, which will be co-hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, is to garner international support for the nation following the devastating floods that occurred last year.
The floods damaged vital infrastructure worth billions of dollars and killed at least 1,700 people.
A stumbling block in negotiations to pass the ninth review, which will result in the release of $1.1 billion in IMF funds and additional international funding, is a plan that outlines a timeline and the financing of the rebuilding effort.
Dar has recently voiced his disapproval of the IMF, declaring publicly that the lender was behaving “abnormally” in its dealings with Pakistan, which joined the $7 billion bailout program in 2019.
The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also said that she had a “constructive call” with Sharif about the Geneva conference and supported Pakistan’s efforts to rebuild, according to the spokesperson.
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