ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that he had told the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about his government’s resolve to complete the terms of IMF’s program.
On his Twitter handle, the prime minister said that he had held a telephonic conversation with the IMF MD yesterday.
“I also explained Pakistan’s economic difficulties especially after the devastating floods. IMF delegation will come to Pakistan soon,” he added in a tweet.
In a phone call with Managing Director of the IMF yesterday, I told her about the government’s resolve to complete the terms of IMF’s program. I also explained Pakistan’s economic difficulties especially after the devastating floods. IMF delegation will come to Pakistan soon.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) January 7, 2023
On Friday, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva had called the prime minister over telephone and expressed her deep sympathy and concern on the human and material losses due to the recent floods and reiterated her commitment to help Pakistan in the difficult period.
Kristalina Georgieva thanked the PM for the invitation to participate in the Climate Resilient Pakistan Conference at Geneva, saying she would be able to join the conference virtually as the IMF Board meetings had been prefixed for January 9 -10.
The country is currently in the midst of a severe cash crunch, with foreign exchange reserves in the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) depleting to an eight-year low of $5.576 billion during the week ended on Dec 30, 2022.
This decline left no space for the government to pay back its foreign debts without borrowing more from friendly countries.
Despite fast dwindling SBP reserves, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is still hopeful about reverting the situation with expected financial help promised by the friendly countries, but nothing has been realized so far.
During the week the SBP foreign exchange reserves saw an outflow of $245 million for external debt repayments.
Foreign debt servicing is the most troubling question for the PMLN-led coalition government facing a serious threat of default. Several attempts to restart talks with the IMF for the release of the next tranche have so far remained unfruitful.
