Pakistan says to share budget details with IMF to unlock funds 

A shopkeeper waits for customers at a market in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 17, 2023. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 29 May 2023
Follow

Pakistan says to share budget details with IMF to unlock funds 

  • The IMF funding is crucial for the $350 billion South Asian economy, which faces acute balance of payments crisis 
  • Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says he will like the IMF to clear its 9th review before the budget, due in early June

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will share its upcoming budget details with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to unlock stalled funds, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday. 

Hopes for a resumption of an IMF deal are diminishing, analysts say, with a bailout programme agreed in 2019 due to expire on June 30 at the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year. 

Dar said he would like the IMF to clear its 9th review before the budget, which is due to be presented in early June, as all the conditions for that had already been met. 

The IMF funding is crucial for the $350 billion South Asian country, which faces an acute balance of payments crisis. This has raised concerns of a sovereign default, something which the minister dismissed. 

The central bank's foreign reserves have fallen as low as to cover barely a month of controlled imports. Pakistan's economy has slowed, with an estimated 0.29% GDP growth for 2022-2023. 

"They have asked for some more things again, we are ready to give that too, they say that give us budget details, we will give it to them," Dar said in an interview with local Geo TV. 

He said it would not work for Pakistan if the IMF combined the 9th and 10th review of the bailout, adding, "We will not do it, (we) see this is (as) unfair." The IMF's $1.1 billion funding to Pakistan, which is part of the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019, has been held up since November. 

Islamabad hosted the IMF mission in February to negotiate a series of fiscal policy measures to clear the 9th review. 

Pakistan had to complete a series of prior actions demanded by the IMF, which included reversing subsidies, a hike in energy and fuel prices, jacking up its key policy rate, a market-based exchange rate, arranging for external financing and raising over 170 billion rupees ($613 million) in new taxation. 

The fiscal adjustments have already fuelled Pakistan's highest ever inflation, which hit 36.5% year-on-year in April. 


India seals $3bn LNG agreement with UAE

Updated 19 January 2026
Follow

India seals $3bn LNG agreement with UAE

  • Leaders hold talks to strengthen trade, defense ties

NEW DELHI, DUBAI: India signed a $3 billion deal on Monday to buy liquefied natural gas from the UAE, making it the Gulf country’s top customer, as the leaders of both countries held talks to strengthen trade and defense ties.

The agreement was signed during a very brief two-hour visit to ‌India by UAE ‌President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for talks with Indian ‌Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

They pledged to double bilateral trade to $200 billion in six years and form a strategic defense partnership.

Abu Dhabi state firm ADNOC Gas will supply 0.5 million tonnes of LNG a year to India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp. for 10 years, the companies said.

ADNOC Gas said the agreement brings the total value of its contracts with India to over $20 billion.

“India is now the UAE’s largest customer and a ‌very important part of ADNOC Gas’ LNG strategy,” ‍the company said.

The UAE is ‍India’s third largest trading partner and Sheikh Mohammed was accompanied ‍by a government delegation that included his defense and foreign ministers. The two sides signed a letter of intent to work toward forming a strategic defense partnership, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters.

Misri, however, said that the signing of the letter of intent with the UAE does not mean that India will get involved in regional conflicts.

“Our involvement on the defense and security front with a country from the region does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that we will get involved in ‌particular ways in the conflicts of the region,” he said.