ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday announced that it would formally approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package to address a mounting balance of payments crisis and to avoid default on international debt obligations.
“We have no other option but to go to the IMF,” Finance Minister Asad Umar said in a video statement. “We will have to take a loan to support the failing economy.”
The finance minister said the government has been consulting some “friendly countries” and Prime Minister Imran Khan has also consulted all leading economic experts as well to deal with the current economic crisis.
“After all this consultative process, it has been decided today that we should start negotiations with the IMF to get a stabilization recovery program to overcome the economic crisis,” he said.
Umar said the government will try its best to pass on the least possible burden of the “difficult decision” on the underprivileged, adding that everyone is aware of the difficult economic conditions left by the previous PML-N government for the country.
The finance minister is expected to meet the officials of the World Bank and IMF during their annual meeting in Indonesia later this week.
Pakistan has gone to the IMF repeatedly since the late 1980s. The last time was in 2013, when Islamabad got a $6.6 billion loan to tackle the economic crisis.
Economic experts, however, fear that the terms of any new loan will be more stringent than those in 2013, owing to tense relations with the United States, the lender’s biggest donor.
“Everyone knows this is a difficult decision, a difficult challenge; but this nation has proved time and again that when it takes a decision for the betterment of the country, everyone stands by it for success,” the finance minister added.
Pakistan decides to approach IMF for bailout package
Pakistan decides to approach IMF for bailout package
- The finance minister is expected to meet the officials of the World Bank and IMF during their annual meeting in Indonesia later this week
- Pakistan has gone to the IMF repeatedly since the late 1980s
Pakistan deputy PM directs authorities to monitor food prices ahead of Ramadan
- Prices of essential food items surge during holy month of Ramadan due to hoarding, profiteering by traders
- Deputy PM Ishaq Dar directs authorities to prevent artificial price hikes, exploitation of consumers in Ramadan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday directed authorities to monitor prices of essential food items ahead of Ramadan to prevent artificial price hikes and consumers from getting exploited, his office said.
Pakistani increasingly shop for essential food items during the holy month of Ramadan, as millions across the country fast from dawn till sunset. Prices of essential food items surge during the holy month every year as traders often indulge in hoarding and profiteering.
Dar chaired a meeting to review the availability and prices of essential commodities across the country on Tuesday, his office said.
“DPM/FM [foreign minister] directed federal & provincial authorities to continue close monitoring, particularly in view of the approaching month of Ramazan, to prevent any artificial price hike or exploitation of consumers by unscrupulous elements,” Dar’s office said in a statement.
A central moon sighting committee in Pakistan, the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, determines when Ramadan begins. The Islamic month is expected to start this year after mid-February, around Feb. 17 or Feb. 18.
Pakistan’s government also announces subsidies for the masses during the holy month to lower the prices of essential food items.
In 2024, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government announced a Ramadan package comprising a subsidy of $26.8 million (Rs7.5 billion) to lower the prices of essential items for over 30,96,00,000 families.
